{{Short description|French painter and illustrator (1824–1877)}} thumb|right|200px|Gustave Brion [[File:Javert.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''Javert'', from ''Les Misérables'' by Victor Hugo, published in 1862.]] thumb|right|200px|''A Wedding in Alsace'', 1872 [[File:Gustave brion hochzeitsprozession 1873.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''Procession in Strasbourg'', 1873]] [[File:Brion Gustave-Les Pèlerins de Sainte Odile.jpg|thumbnail|right|''The pilgrims of Sainte Odile'' (Unterlinden Museum), Colmar]] '''Gustave Brion''' (1824&ndash;1877) was a French painter and illustrator best known for his depictions of rural life in Alsace and for his illustrations of Victor Hugo’s ''Les Misérables'' and ''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Bryan |first=Michael |url=http://archive.org/details/bryansdiction01brya |title=Bryan's dictionary of painters and engravers |last2=Williamson |first2=George Charles |date=1903 |publisher=New York : Macmillan |others=University of California Libraries}}</ref>

He was born at Rothau in the department of Bas-Rhin on 24 October 1824 and studied in Strasbourg under the painter Gabriel-Cristophe Guérin and then the sculptor Andreas Friedrich. In 1847, his exhibited ''Intérieur à Dambach'' at the Salon of 1847.<ref>''Explication des Ouvrages de Peinture, Sculpture, Architecture, Gravure et Lithographie des Artistes Vivans, Exposés au Musée Royal le 16 Mars 1847'' (Paris: Vinchon, 1847), No. 252, p. X. [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Explication_des_ouvrages_de_peinture_et_dessins%2C_sculpture%2C_architecture_et_gravure%2C_des_artistes_vivans_%28IA_explicationdesou1847soci%29.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com Wikimedia Commons]</ref> A few years later, he moved to a studio on rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs, in the same building as Realist artists Jules Breton and François Bonvin.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gustave Brion, JESUS AND PETER ON THE WATER (JESUS ET PIERRE SUR LES EAUX ), 1863 |url=https://www.gallery19c.com/artworks/9413/ |access-date=2025-10-17 |website=Gallery 19C |language=en}}</ref>

Brion gained recognition for his genre paintings depicting the peasant life and customs of Alsace, though he occasionally painted historical subjects, such as ''The Siege of a Town by Romans under Julius Caesar'', commissioned by Napoleon III. He earned a Second-Class Medal at the Paris Salon of 1853 for his paintings ''Schlitteurs de la Forêt-Noire'' and P''otato Harvest during an Inundation''. The former was later destroyed during the Franco-Prussian War.<ref name=":0" /> In 1863, his work ''Les Fleurs du Pays'' earned him a First-Class Medal at the Salon of 1863, along with the Legion of Honour. Additional honors followed at the Exposition Universelle of 1867 and the Salon of 1868.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Form and Art. Biography of Gustave Brion |url=https://formandart.com/biografias/brion.html |access-date=2025-10-17 |website=formandart.com}}</ref>

In addition to painting, Brion worked as a book illustrator. He designed over 200 illustrations for the first edition of Hugo's novel ''Les Misérables,''<ref>{{cite book |last=King |first=Ross |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UbIJZUVzXN4C&pg=PA232 |title=The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade that Gave the World Impressionism |publisher=Walker Publishing |year=2006 |isbn=9780802718419 |location=NY |pages=232}}</ref> including the first published portrayal of Inspector Javert.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Illustrations – Stéphanie Boulard |url=https://boulard.modlangs.gatech.edu/teaching/reading-les-miserables/illustrations/ |access-date=2025-10-17 |website=boulard.modlangs.gatech.edu}}</ref> His illustrations for the author's ''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'' depicted Quasimodo and Esmeralda.<ref name=":0" />

Despite his success in Paris, Brion remained deeply attached to his native Alsace, and the annexation of the region by Germany after the Franco-Prussian War in 1871 was a personal loss for him. He died on 3 November 1877 at the age of 53.<ref name=":1" />

Brion was a grandnephew of Friederike Brion, the muse of Goethe’s early poetry.<ref>{{cite web|title=BRION GUSTAVE (1824-1877)|url=http://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/gustave-brion/|publisher=universalis.fr|accessdate=17 February 2017}}</ref>

==Principal works== The following are his principal works:

'''Paintings'''<ref name=":0" />

*''Interior of a Farm at Dambaoh'', Salon, 1847 *''<nowiki/>'Schlitteurs' of the Black Forest'', Salon, 1853 *''Potato Harvest during an Inundation'', Salon, 1852 *''Wood-Barge on the Rhine'' (engraved by Jazet), Paris Exhibition, 1855 *''Burial in the Vosges'', Paris Exhibition, 1855 *''La Fête-Dieu'', Paris Exhibition, 1855 *''The Miraculous Well'', Paris Exhibition, 1855 *''Mountebank in the Middle Ages'', Salon, 1857 *''Gathering Potatoes'' (in the Nantes Museum), Salon, 1857 *''A Church Porch'', Salon, 1859 *''Burial on the Rhine'', Salon, 1859 *''The Skittle-Players'', Salon, 1859 *''A Protestant Marriage in Alsace'' (etched by Rajon), Salon, 1861 *''The Wedding Feast'' (etched by Bellin), Salon, 1861 *''The Blessing'', London Exhibition, 1862 *''The Pilgrims of St. Odile'', Salon, 1863 *''The End of the Deluge'', Salon, 1864 *''La Quète au Loup'', Salon, 1864 *''Reading the Bible in Alsace'', Salon, 1868 *''A Wedding in Alsace'', Salon, 1874 (earlier drawing of the same image pictured) *''First Steps'', Salon 1876 *''The Réveil, Encampment of Pilgrims'', Salon, 1877

'''Book illustrations'''

* ''Les Misérables'', by Victor Hugo (Paris: Pagnerre, 1862), first illustrated edition, with character portraits by Brion<ref>{{Cite web |title=Victor Hugo - Graphic Arts |url=https://www.princeton.edu/~graphicarts/2010/03/victor_hugo.html |access-date=2025-10-17 |website=www.princeton.edu}}</ref> * ''Notre-Dame de Paris'' (''The Hunchback of Notre-Dame''), by Victor Hugo (Paris: J. Hetzel, 1864), illustrated by Brion; engravings by Yon and Perrichon<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hugo |first=Victor (1802-1885) Auteur du texte |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5674470n |title=Notre-Dame de Paris / par Victor Hugo; illustré par Brion; gravures de Yon et Perrichon |date=1865 |language=EN}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist|30em}} '''Attribution:''' * {{Bryan (3rd edition)|title=Brion, Gustave |volume=1}}

==External links== {{Commons}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Brion, Gustave}} Category:1824 births Category:1877 deaths Category:People from Bas-Rhin Category:19th-century French painters Category:French male painters Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour Category:Painters from Alsace Category:19th-century French male artists