The Life and Art of Achille Giroux
Jean François Achille Giroux was a French painter and lithographer who worked in the Realist style. Born in Mortagne-au-Perche, France, he was the son of Étienne Jean Giroux, a wigmaker, and Marie-Louise Maillard. After his primary education in Alençon, he attended the Saumur Cavalry School, where he received his first drawing lessons and elements of lithography. He later moved to Paris to study under Michel Martin Drolling.
His artistic focus centered primarily on animals, specifically horses. To master equine anatomy, he was hired by publisher Victor Delarue to create illustrations for a course, which involved making daily visits to the École nationale vétérinaire d'Alfort to study sketches of dissected horses. His travels through France included visits to the Haras national du Pin in Normandy.
Exhibitions and Challenges
Giroux first exhibited at the Salon in 1840 and by 1843 was presenting several works at each session, attracting customers from England and rural France. Despite his talent, he faced significant financial difficulties and debt. His life was marked by various struggles with creditors and unpaid contracts, including a situation where a publisher disappeared after contracting him for an album of equestrian scenes.
The exhaustion from these ongoing financial troubles eventually left him unable to paint. In 1854, he went to stay at the home of Alfred de Menciaux in Lot-et-Garonne, where he died.
