Emile Antoine Bayard was born on November 2, 1837, in Ferté-sous-Jouarre, France. From 1853 until 1857, Bayard did his apprenticeship under Léon Cogniet and published humoristic drawings in various magazines on the side under the pseudonym "Abel de Miray." After completing his apprenticeship, he worked mainly with charcoal, paint, and watercolors and achieved his first successes with woodcuts of Fortune Louis Méaulle and B. Smeeton, engravings of A. Lamotte, and color lithographies of Champenois. Beginning in 1864, Bayard worked primarily for the magazines "Journal pour rire," "L'Illustration," "Journal des Voyages," and "Les Bibliothèque des Merveilles." Bayard did mainly documentary drawings and lithographs, with the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871 figuring prominently in these works. Noteworthy examples include the charcoal "Sedan" from 1870, the portrait "Commandant Franchetti," which was exhibited in the Paris Salon in 1873, as well as the triptych "Gloria," "Victis," and "Après la bataille de Waterloo," which was acquired by the French government in 1874. With the victory of photography, Bayard's documentary drawings were quickly displaced from newspapers and magazines. He then turned to illustration, working on Victor Hugo's "Les Misérables" for example, and genre painting. Bayard's decorative paintings can be seen in the foyer of the Théâter du Palais Royale, where he portrayed the most important actors of the theater. Emile Antoine Bayard died in December 1891.