Theodore Roussel

Painter and etcher Theodore Roussel was born in Lorient, Brittany in 1847. Though he was born and educated in France, he moved to England in 1878 and quickly established a reputation. Mostly self-taught, his early paintings show a style that combines techniques from the Old Masters and the subject matter of urban life.

Roussel was introduced to James McNeill Whistler in 1885 and the two became lifelong friends. Whistler introduced him to the techniques of etching and drypoint in 1888 and Roussel pursued these mediums for the remainder of his life. Constantly experimenting, Roussel was an early pioneer of the technique of color etching in England.

He exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists, the New English Art Club and the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers. Roussel was also a founding member of the Allied Artists’ Association in 1908.