Page:Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography Volume 1.pdf/717

BON science, English sense, and Venetian vigour. Much to Fuseli's horror, he had even selected a series of mediæval subjects, on which to make the experiment. He tried the manner of every school, but his "Henry the Third of France" the academy hung out of sight, much to the disgust of all but a clique. This picture was correct, skilful, and harmonious; but to be young and successful is always a sin in the eyes of our privileged body of worn-out old men. His mind teemed with projects; his conception was rapid, his execution rapid; but death took the brush out of his hand, and pointed to the inevitable grave. Every one saw he was branded for death; but still he rose early and studied late, and fame went on increasing like the schoolboy's snow globe. The French watched his progress with pride, for he was their adopted son, and they are quick and generous of feeling. Gros, who for some unknown reason had shut his studio against him, now declared it a proud honour to have such a pupil. In 1827 he went to Paris, having, with his usual shyness, refused an introduction to Lawrence till he was better known. The almost numberless orders he received excited an overwrought brain; he fell away, and a quick and overmastering consumption swept him into the grave. He had just strength to reach London, where he died in his twenty-seventh year. Lawrence was at his funeral—a sad introduction. The artist was tall and well-made. "His face," says a French writer, "was truly English, and we loved him for his melancholy air, which became him more than smiles." Carpenter engraved twenty-six of his paintings, which are now scarce. His works are distinguished by great picturesque beauty, good colour, and a singular grace of execution. His handling was delicate and true; his tone of colour, clear and harmonious. "He wants," says Cunningham, "vigour and breadth; his copies are sometimes too bold and literal; his poetic scenes, too slight and flimsy. He had not the strength of Gainsborough, but much of his grace and art." It was his dream to have gained a competency by painting commissions, and then to have dedicated his time to an epical series of historical compositions. Who can say whether this wonderful boy might not have grown up a worn-out reproducer of dead shadows, a conventional Master Betty of art, a phenomenon run to seed, a colt run too early, and broken-kneed before its full strength had come? Taking him to France while still a suckling, to be overpowered by the visions of past greatness, was a cruel mistake; but then poor Bonington never had stamina enough for an original genius; he was a precocious, consumptive lad. Had God willed him to have improved English art, he would have lived.—W. T.  BONINI,, a native of Ancona, lived about 1600, pupil of the weak but graceful Albano, whom he assisted in the Sala Farnese, and in many of the Bolognese palaces.—W. T.  BONISOLI,, a historical painter of Cremona, and pupil of Tortiroli. Diligent study of Veronese's works made him a reasonable painter. Died in 1700.—W. T.  BONITO,, a Neapolitan portrait and historical painter, born in 1705, and died in 1789. He was a pupil of Solimena, and became painter to the king of Naples.—W. T.  BONJOUR,, born in 1795 at Clermont. Some thirty years have elapsed since the amiable librarian of the Bibliothèque St. Genevieve, gave the last of that agreeable series of comedies which will insure for his name a respectable place in the brilliant list of French dramatic writers. His works possess the distinguishing merit of high moral aims, treated with easy and pleasant familiarity.—J. F. C.  BONNAIRE,, a voluminous French theological writer, a priest of the congregation of the Oratory, born at Ramerup-sur-Aube about 1680; died at Paris in 1752. He wrote "Parallele de la morale des jesuites et de celle des païens," 1726; "L'esprit des lois quintessencié," 1751; "Religion Chretienne meditée dans le veritable esprit de ses maximes," 1745-1763; and "Les Leçons de la sagesse," 1737-1744.  BONNAL,, a French prelate, born at the manor-house of Bonnal, near Agen, in 1734. In 1758 he was raised to the see of Clermont, and in that year was present at the general assembly of the clergy of France. In 1789 he was deputed to the states-general, and protested against the limitations of the power of the clergy proposed by the popular leaders. In 1791 he refused to sign the constitution civile, and exerted himself so zealously to increase the number of recusants that he was denounced to the assembly, and obliged to retire to Holland. He died in 1800.—J. S. G.  BONNAR,, R.S.A., a portrait and historical painter of moderate calibre, born at Edinburgh; died in 1853. He was the son of a house-painter, and was, when young, apprenticed to the rose-garland decorative branch of art. His picture of "the Tinkers," exhibited in Waterloo Place in 1824, established his fame; and on the formation of the Royal Scottish Academy he was elected an academician. Many of his pictures have been engraved.—W. T. <section end="717H" /> <section begin="717I" />BONNARD,, a poet, born at Semar in 1744; died in 1784. He first went to the bar, which he subsequently renounced for the profession of arms. In 1770 he was appointed tutor to the son of the duke of Orleans, in which office he was succeeded by madame de Genlis. His poems, with a biographical notice, have been published at Paris, 1791, 8vo.—J. G. <section end="717I" /> <section begin="717J" />BONNARD,, a French missionary and martyr, born at Saint-Christophe in Jarret in 1824; executed in Cochin-China in 1852. He arrived in that country in 1850, set himself to acquire the Annamite language, and had made some progress in his missionary labours, when he was denounced to one of the mandarins, and condemned to death.—J. S., G. <section end="717J" /> <section begin="717K" />BONNARD,, a French geologist, the son of the poet, Bernard de Bonnard, was born in Paris on the 8th October, 1781, and became inspector of mines. He has devoted himself especially to the investigation of the geognostic questions connected with mining, as is shown by the titles of his principal writings—namely, "Aperçu des terrains houilliers du nord de la France," and "Essai Géognostiques sur l'Erzgebirge." He has also written several memoirs on mining and metallurgical processes.—W. S. D. <section end="717K" /> <section begin="717L" />BONNATERRE, P., a French abbé and naturalist, born at Saint-Seniez in 1747 or 1752, was one of the authors of the zoological portion of the great Encyclopédie Méthodique. The portions written by Bonnaterre include the "Natural History of Fishes and Cetacea," and the Tableau Encyclopédique et Méthodique of the "Birds, Reptiles, Fishes, and Cetacea." His other writings consist of a "Flora of Aveyron," a notice of a wild boy found in that district, and a "Recueil de Médecine Veterinaire," published at Toulouse in 1805. At the outbreak of the French revolution the abbé Bonnaterre retired to his native district; he died at Rhodez on the 26th September, 1804.—W. S. D. <section end="717L" /> <section begin="717M" />BONNAUD,, a French jesuit, grand vicar of Lyons, born in America in 1740. He published during the ten years preceding the Revolution, several works on politico-ecclesiastical questions, which brought him into celebrity as a vigorous writer and zealous churchman. His last publication, however,—"A Defence of the Rights of the Church against the Spoliatory Measures of the National Assembly"—attracted to him the undesirable notice of the revolutionary party, by whom he was shut up in one of the Carmelite convents of Paris, and in September, 1792, massacred along with other prisoners.—J. S., G. <section end="717M" /> <section begin="717N" />* BONNECHOSE,, born at Leyerdorp in Holland in 1801, of French parents. He first entered the army, which he quitted in 1830 for the sake of devoting himself to literary pursuits. Having written a tragedy, "Rosemonde," which succeeded, and a poem which was crowned by the French Academy, he turned his attention to history, and has given to the world a history of France, a sacred history, and a history of "The Four Conquests of England," in which he fairly and impartially renders justice to the great characteristic qualities of the British people.—J. F. C. <section end="717N" /> <section begin="717O" />BONNECORSE,, born at Marseilles, and died in 1706. Wrote poems, the name of one of which, "La Montre d'Amour," was found jingling in a passage of Boileau's Lutrin. Balthazar's wrath was roused, and he wrote the "Lutrigot," a parody of the Lutrin, in ten cantos. Bonnecorse also published Latin verses.—J. A., D. <section end="717O" /> <section begin="717P" />BONNEFONS,, a French jesuit, born at Riom in Auvergne in 1600; died at Paris in 1653. He devoted himself to charitable instruction, and left a number of devotional treatises, particularly "Les Douze Portes de la bienheureuse eternité, et les clefs qui les ouvrent," 1644. <section end="717P" /> <section begin="717Zcontin" />BONNEFONS or BONEFONS,, an amatory poet, born at Clermont in Auvergne in 1554; died in 1614. He studied law, and followed the profession of an advocate at Paris. Opposite judgments have been passed on his poetry. Some have compared him to Catullus. Others have alleged that he imitated rather modern Italian poets than those of the <section end="717Zcontin" />