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Alix, Pierre-Michel
(b 1762; d Paris, 27 Dec 1817). French printmaker. During the last two decades of the 18th century he followed Jean-François Janinet and Louis-Marin Bonnet in popularizing the technique of multiple-plate colour printing for the progressive tonal intaglio processes of mezzotint, aquatint, stipple and crayon manner. Alix produced many illustrations of contemporary Parisian life and fashion but was best known for his colour aquatint portraits of celebrated figures of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic period. In 1789 he provided 18 sheets for an engraved portrait collection published by Levacher de Charnois, which documented members of the French National Assembly. Alix also produced colour prints of such Revolutionary heroes as Jean-Paul Marat, Marie-Joseph Chalier and Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier, after pastel drawings by Jacques-Louis David and other artists. Chief among such prints, which were widely distributed to promote patriotic zeal, were Alix’s portraits of the boy heroes Joseph Barra and Agricola Viala. One of his best works of the period is a portrait of Queen Marie-Antoinette, after Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun. During the late 1790s, with the establishment of the Directory and the Consulate, Alix destroyed many of his best copperplates, fearing that his depiction of Revolutionary subjects might invite persecution. He then took up historical subjects and styles derived from Classical antiquity. Important works of his late career include Napoleon as General of the Army of Italy (1798), Napoleon as First Consul (1803) and Napoleon with Cambacérès and Lebrun. (Copies of all works cited in this article Paris, Bib. N., Cab. Est.; see also Laran and Roux).
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