Educated in Paris and at the Berbeck Chemical Laboratory at University College, London, du Maurier did not graduate but began spending time in various art museums enjoying his true passion. He then studied art under Charles Gleyre in Paris, before continuing his art studies in Antwerp, Malines and Dusseldorf. After returning to London in 1860, he began submitting illustrations to various magazines. He married the heiress Emma Wightwick in 1863 and in 1865 joined the staff of Punch. In 1869, he moved to Hampstead. Du Maurier's illustrations and cartoons made him one of the most popular artists in England. In addition to his work for Punch, he illustrated the works of many eminent authors such as Thomas Hardy, William Thackeray, Elizabeth Gaskell and M. E. Braddon. During the 1880's, du Maurier's eyesight became a major problem and he turned his hand to writing, publishing his first novel, Peter Ibbetsen, in 1889. In 1894, he published his best-selling Trilby, which introduced the mesmerist Svengali. The book sold over 300,000 copies in its first year and was a huge critical success. His third novel, The Martian was serialized in Harper's Monthly in 1897 following du Maurier's death by heart failure. In 1898, his work Social Pictorial Satire was published, in which he elaborated on his life's work. He was the grandfather of the author Daphne Du Maurier. |
