French engraving — Charlet, Nicolas-Toussaint

Nicolas - Toussaint Charlet (1792 - 1845). French painter, draftsman and engraver.
Son of a Napoleonic grenadier. As a schoolboy, he showed a love for drawing. He served as a scribe, but after the restoration of the Bourbons was fired for his views. In 1817 he became a student of the artist Baron Gros. At the beginning of his artistic activity, he painted with oil paints, drew and lithographed types of Napoleonic soldiers and scenes of their life. Then plots began to appear from the life of market traders, workers, street boys, idlers, etc.