Narcisse Berchère

Narcisse Berchère studied at Beaux-Arts de Paris. The recorded working language is French. Places of work recorded in the authority are Paris. Work by Narcisse Berchère is recorded in the collections of National Gallery of Ireland, Musée d'art et d'histoire de Narbonne, Museum of Fine Arts of Reims, Musée de la Chartreuse de Douai and Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rennes. Distinctions recorded are Knight of the Legion of Honour.

He was born in Étampes. His initial studies were at the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris, with Charles-Caïus Renoux. Later, he worked in the studios of Jean-Charles-Joseph Rémond. He spent much of his working life in Paris; making extended trips to Provence and Spain, and specializing in landscapes. He visited Egypt, Asia Minor and the Greek archipelago from 1849 to 1850 and sent his first paintings to the Salon from Greece. In 1856, he returned to Egypt and crossed the Sinai desert with his friend, the painter Léon Belly. They were then joined by Jean-Léon Gérôme and Auguste Bartholdi; setting out on an expedition up the Nile Valley that October. Four years later, Ferdinand de Lesseps entrusted him to create a series of paintings, tracing the different stages in the excavation of the Suez Canal. During this project he maintained a detailed correspondence with Eugène Fromentin. Their letters were published in 1863. He was invited to attend the inaugural ceremonies at the Canal in 1869. After many years of travelling throughout North Africa and the Middle East, he settled in Asnières-sur-Seine, where he died in 1891. Many of his sketches and paintings are preserved at the Musée municipal d'Étampes, in Essonne.