Louis Joseph César Ducornet

Louis Joseph César Ducornet (January 10, 1806 in Lille – April 27, 1856 in Paris) was a French painter who painted with his foot. He is known primarily for biblical and historical scenes, as well as portraits.

Ducornet was born to poor parents in Lille on January 10, 1806.He had a birth defect, now known as phocomelia; having neither arms nor thighs, and only four toes to his right foot. He was unable to walk and had to be carried by his father. However, while still a child, he used to pick up pieces of charcoal from the floor with his toes and the rough sketches he thus made evinced so much promise that he received local instruction in art.

With the help of the municipality of Lille, he was sent to Paris, where he studied under Guillaume Guillon-Lethière, François Louis Joseph Watteau and François Gérard, and for a short period of time he received a government pension from King Louis XVIII. Although his disability prevented him from entering the competition for the Prix de Rome, he was awarded several medals at the Salon. He even took an occasional student; notably Auguste Allongé. He painted an eleven feet high depiction of Mary Magdalene at the feet of Jesus after the resurrection that was purchased by the French government.

He died in Paris in 1856 aged 50.

Among his notable paintings are:

• Repentance. 1828.
• The Parting of Hector and Andromaque. (Lille Museum.)
• St. Louis administering Justice. (Lille Museum.)
• Death of Mary Magdalen. 1840. (Église Saint-André de Lille [fr])
• The Repose in Egypt. 1841.
• Christ in the Sepulchre. 1843.
• Edith finding the body of Harold. 1855.

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  Self-portrait, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille.

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  Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy, unknown location.

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  Portrait of a young girl, Private collection (US).