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(4) (Nicolas-François-)Octave Tassaert
(b Paris, 26 July 1800; d Paris, 24 April 1874). Painter and printmaker, son of (2) Jean-Joseph-François Tassaert. As a child he worked with his brother Paul Tassaert (d 1855), producing engravings, but he later turned to painting and from 1817 to 1825 studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, first under Alexis-François Girard (1787–1870) and then Guillaume Lethière. In 1823 and 1824 he tried unsuccessfully to win the Prix de Rome, an early failure that greatly disheartened him. For much of his career, until 1849, he continued to work in the graphic arts, as well as painting, producing lithographs and drawings on various subjects: historical scenes from the First Empire, portraits, and mythological and genre scenes. He also produced illustrations for the Romantic novels of Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas père and François-René Chateaubriand. Though he achieved moderate success at the Salon, it was the graphic work that provided his small income during this period. His impoverished lifestyle is reflected in the gloomy painting Corner of the Artist’s Studio (1845; Paris, Louvre), which depicts a shabbily dressed young artist peeling potatoes to make a modest meal.
Part of the Tassaert family
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