Louis Haghe, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetLouis Haghe
Belgian lithographer and watercolour artist
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Tournai, Wallonia, Belgium
About Louis Haghe
- Louis Haghe (17 March 1806, Tournai, Belgium – 9 March 1885, Surrey) was a Belgian lithographer and watercolour artist. His father and grandfather had practised as architects.
- Training in his teens in watercolour painting, he found work in the relatively new art of lithography when the first press was set up in Tournai.
- He visited England to find work, and settled there permanently in 1823. Together with William Day (1797–1845), around 1830 he formed the partnership Day & Haghe, which became the most famous early Victorian firm of lithographic printing in London. Day and Haghe created and printed lithographs dealing with a wide range of subjects, such as hunting scenes, architecture, topographical views and genre depictions.
- They pioneered the new techniques for chromolithography as well as hand-tinted lithographs.
- After William's death in 1845, the firm became known as 'Day & Son'.
- They were pioneers in developing the medium of the lithograph printed in colours. In 1838, Day and Haghe were appointed 'Lithographers to the Queen'.
- Possibly his most ambitious project was providing 250 images for David Roberts' The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt & Nubia printed between 1842–1849.
- Roberts praised his skill and artistry, although John Ruskin called it 'forced'. From the mid-1850s Haghe concentrated more on his watercolours, and gained a reputation for his architectural scenes of northern Europe, with his pictures bought and displayed by the Victoria and Albert Museum.
- He also painted in oils, which were exhibited at the British Institution.
- He became president of the New Society of Painters in Water Colours from 1873 to 1884. Haghe's artistic works were achieved in spite of a deformity in his right hand since birth. He died at Stockwell Road on 9 March 1885 and was buried at West Norwood Cemetery. His younger brother Charles Haghe (-1888) (also known as Charles Hague) was employed as an assistant at Day and Haghe, and remained there after Louis left.
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