Bresdin, Rodolphe

Rodolphe Bresdin (12 August 1822 – 11 January 1885) was a French draughtsman and engraver. He was born in Le Fresne-sur-Loire. He spent his childhood in the Breton countryside. A family row left him homeless in Paris where he became part of the bohemian milieu with Charles Baudelaire, Henri Murger and Victor Hugo. After the counter revolution he walked 678 kilometres to Toulouse and took to living in the open air, workmen's and fishermen's huts. After he traveled with his wife and six children to Canada in pursuit of the dream of 'living off the land' he was brought back to France by Hugo and the bohemian writers and artists. He became sreparated from his family and died in a garret room in Sèvres.