Charles Chaplin\’s (indirect) art connection

March 27, On This Day

Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin, better known around the world as performer Charlie Chaplin, was a renowned English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. On March 27, 1931, the grand comedian and thespian received France\’s distinguished Legion of Honor, marking one of this many accomplishments on this day, a decade short of a century ago.

However, there is a lesser known eponymous artist that much fewer people are aware of. Much before the cinema-man, Charles Joshua Chaplin (1825-1891) was a French painter and printmaker who painted both landscapes and portraits, and was best known for his elegant portraits of young women. He wor ked in techniques such as pastels, lithography, watercolor, chalk, oil painting and etching.