Octave Tassaert

Octave Tassaert came from an originally Flemish family of artists who worked mainly in Antwerp, Paris and Prussia. He was the son of the engraver Jean-Joseph-François Tassaert (1765-c. 1835) and grandson of the Flemish sculptor Jean-Pierre-Antoine Tassaert, who had worked mainly in Paris and Berlin. Octave's first artistic training came from his father and then his older brother Paul (?-1855), both of whom were print artists and art dealers. Together with his brother Paul, he first produced wood engravings. With his depictions of social injustice, he sought to strike an emotional chord with the viewer. Although his contribution to the Salon of 1855 during the exposition universelle was well received by critics, Tassaert increasingly withdrew from the art world which he despised and did not exhibit again after the Salon of 1857. == Selected works ==

• The Death of Correggio, 1834 Paris Salon - Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia - purchased by Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans, and thus Octave's first success • An Unfortunate Family or Suicide, 1849 - Musée d'Orsay • The Deserted Woman, 1852 - National Gallery of Australia, Canberra • Heaven and Hell, 1850 - Cleveland Museum of Art • ''The Bourgeois' Kitchen'', 1854 - Cleveland Museum of Art == Gallery ==

File:Octave TASSAERT The Waif -L'abandonnée.jpg|The Deserted Woman, 1852, Musée Fabre File:Octave Tassaert - An Unfortunate Family or Suicide.jpg|An Unfortunate Family aka Suicide 1852, Musée Fabre File:Octave Tassaert - Bacchus and Erigone.jpg|Bacchus and Erigone, Musée Fabre File:Octave Tassaert - The artist's studio.jpg|''The artist's studio'', 1845, Louvre File:Nicolas_Tassaert-Die_eifersüchtige_Katze.jpg|The Jealous Cat, lithograph, c. 1860 ==References==