Jean Alexandre Michel André Castaigne[1] (French pronunciation:[ʒɑ̃alɛksɑ̃dʁmiʃɛlɑ̃dʁekastɛɲ]; 7 January 1861,[2] inAngoulême,Charente[3] – 1929, in Angoulême) was a French artist and engraver, a student ofJean-Léon Gérôme andAlexandre Cabanel. Subsequently he became a leading illustrator in the United States. He is often recalled as the original illustrator of the first edition ofThe Phantom of the Opera.
Castaigne also created more than 36 art pieces aboutAlexander the Great for an 1898–99 series.[4] As an illustrator, he captured images of the first modern olympics; he drew pictures of the1896Olympic Games forScribner's Magazine.
André Castaigne was the son of Jean Eusèbe Joseph Castaigne (1828–1902), himself a painter, and Mathilde Debouchaud. His brother Joseph Jean Destrains Castaigne (1859–1923) was a poet.[1] In 1878, he began his studies at what was then theAcadémie Suisse.[5] After a few months he transferred to theAcadémie des Beaux-Arts where his two mentors taught. He was in Cabanel's studio for a year before moving to Gérôme's studio where he won first place in the General Competition three times–for nude figure painting, composition, and general excellence.[5] His work was selected for thePrix de Rome on three occasions and, although he never won, it was a compliment as only ten paintings were selected for the competition.[5]
He had his first exhibition in Paris in 1884, from whence his paintingDante etBéatrice went on tour toNew Orleans where it received a great deal of attention. In 1887 he exhibited the huge painting, five yards by four,The Deluge, which later was placed in the municipal gallery of his native city Angoulême. In 1888, he painted a portrait of the Vicomte de Dampierre in his hunting jacket and in 1889 he created a painting titledAfter the Combat, which later was acquired by the Peabody Gallery in Baltimore.[6]
Castaigne spent six months in England, then went to the United States in 1890 and remained until 1895. He became director of an art school inBaltimore called theCharcoal Club and under his direction the school, which had been in decline, flourished and became one of the best art schools in the region.[5] He painted several notable portraits the first year he was in America. In 1891, he began the illustrating work by which he is best known to the American public. His first work of this type wasTheForty-Niners' Ball in theCentury Magazine for May 1891, followed byThe Bowery in December of the same year.[6] These images of the West earned him immediate recognition as a master of a very American art form.[5] After that he illustrated for several of the leading magazines. His designs included pictures of Texas cowboys in Scribner's Magazine—On the Great Cattle Trail (1892), part of a series titledCattle Trails of the Prairies[6] and the World's Fair drawings and illustrations for 'Polly' in the Century Magazine. In 1893, he painted eight illustrations for an article by A.C. Fletcher on theOmaha tribe inThe Century.[6] He illustratedB.I. Wheeler'sLife of Alexander the Great (1900), for which he did over 36 paintings and drawings from November 1898 to October 1899. His work forCentury Magazine included travelling extensively, visiting Corsica (1894), Italy (1895, 1896), Greece (1897) and the Rhineland (1898) to illustrate travel articles byAugustine Birrell.[5] ForThe Century he did over 160 illustrations. He also worked forHarper's Magazine from 1901 to 1913. He was official painter for theOlympic Games in 1896.[1]
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On his return to France in 1895, he became instructor in theAcadémie Colarossi and opened a studio in Paris. He remained permanent European correspondent forThe Century[1] and made trips to the US from time to time to do American illustrations for the magazine. These includeMammouth Cave (1898) andNiagara Falls (1899)[6] He also visited Canada at this time and producedCanadian Rapids from the Island.[6] Little by little,photogravure replacedengraving andlithography and Castaigne no longer did travel pictures after around 1910.[6] In France, he publishedFata Morgana (1904),[7] a novel dealing with the art life of Paris and illustrated by himself.[3]During a six-year period in France where he divided his time between a winter studio in Paris and a summer studio in Angoulême, he illustratedWilliam Milligan Sloane'sThe Life of Napoleon Bonaparte,Richard Whiteing'sParis of To-Day andBertha Runkle'sThe Helmet of Navarre.[2]
While in France, Castaigne was principal draughtsman to the President of FranceFélix Faure who awarded him the Red Ribbon of theLegion of Honour.[2]
He died unmarried in 1929 at the Clinique St. Marthe in Angoulême where he had been admitted with a hernia. Due to complications as a result of not obeying medical orders and getting out of bed, this proved fatal.[1]
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