Page:Men of the Time, eleventh edition.djvu/916

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POYNTER— PEATI.

899

en-Caux(Seine-Inferlcure). A largo manufacturer, he became, in 185 i, Maire of Pleury-sur-Andelle, which he also represented in the Conseil G6n<5ral. Subsequently he became a member of the Chamber of Com- merce at Rouen; administrator of the Bank of Franco (branch of the Seine-Inf erieure) ; and President of the committee formed for the relief of the workmen engaged in the manufacture of cotton. In 1857 and 1863 he was elected a Deputy in the Corps L^gislatif in the government interest for the first circonscription for the department of the Seine-Inferieure. M. Pou- yer-Quertier rendered himself very conspicuous by the pertinacity with which he opposed the doctrines of Free Trade, especially as applied to the Treaty of Commerce with Eng- land, and by his unsparing exposure of the abuses of the great financial and railway companies in France. In consequence he lost the support of the government, and at the general election of May, 1869, failed to secure his re-election. After the fall of the empire, M. Pouyer-Quertier was returned to the National Assembly, and was intrusted by M. Thiers with the conduct of the negotiations with Germany respecting the Alsace- Lorraine treaties, which, in Oct., 1871, he brought to a successful issue. He was promoted to be a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour, Oct. 20, 1871. He was elected a Senator in Jan., 1876 ; his term of office expired in 1882.

POYNTER, Edwabd John, B.A., was born at Paris, March 20, 1836, being son of Mr. Ambrose Poynter, architect. He was edu- cated at Westminster School, and at Ipswich Grammar School ; after- wards he studied art in English schools from 185i to 1856, and under Gleyre in Paris from 1856 to to 1859. He was made an Associate of the Royal Academy in Jan., 1869; a member of the Belgian Water-Colour Society, in 1871 ; and

was appointed Slade Professor of Art at University College, Gower Street, London, in May, 1871, the appointment being renewed in 1873 for four years. He was elected a Royal Academician, June 29, 1876. Mr. Poynter exhibited at the Royal Academy, " Israel in Egypt," 1867 ; "The Catapult," 1868; "Perseus and Andromeda," 1872 ; " More of More Hall and the Dragon," 1873- " Rhodope," 1874 ; "The Festival," and "The Golden Age," 1875; "Atalanta's Race," 1S76; "The Fortune-Tellcr," his diploma pic- ture, 1877; and "Zenobia captive," 1878. He also painted cartoons for the mosaic of St. George in the Westminster Palace, 1869 ; designed the architectural and tile decora- tions for the grill-room at South Kensington, 1868-70; painted a fresco in St. Stephen's Church, Dulwich, 1872-3 ; and has exhibited many other smaller works in the Academy and Dudley Water-Colour Exhibition. For several years he was Director for Art and Principal of the National Art Training School at South Kensington, but he resigned that office in July, 1881, though he consented to con- tinue his connection with the De- partment as Visitor of the Training School. He is the author of " Ten Lectures on Art," 1879.

PRATI, Giovanni, one of the most popular of living Italian poets, was born Jan. 27, 1815, at Dascindo, on the southern slope of the Tyrolese Alps, and studied law in the University of Padua. His first poem, a melancholy love-story, entitled " Edmenegarda," appeared at Milan in 1841, and met with a success so decided that its author resolved to quit Padua and to abandon the legal profession, in order to devote himself exclusively to literature. His " Canti Lirici," " Canti per il Popolo," and " Bal- late," were quite as popular as his first work. They were followed in rapid succession by "Nuovi Canti/' " Memori e Lacrime," *' Lettere a 3 M 2

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