Henri Maclot

Born in Verdun (France) in 1857, Henri Maclot-Hamant was a talented painter-decorator working in the Nancy region. Henri Maclot-Hamant followed a solid academic training at the Paris Ecole des Beaux-Arts, from 1882 to 1885. As a young painter, he received a grant from the General Council of the Meuse, with the help of his father, and on the recommandation of two drawing teachers. He passed the competition to join Alexandre Cabanel’s atelier, in 1883. He trained with Cabanel during two years. Henri Maclot-Hamant then held a scholarship from the Municipal Council of the City of Verdun and the General Council of the Meuse. Alexandre Cabanel highly recommended Henri Maclot-Hamant to the French Ministry of Fine Arts, for him to receive a reward for his attendance to the course and the quality of his anatomic studies.

Back in his home region, he exhibited his paintings in art shows organized in the city of Nancy, from 1891 to 1910. He also exhibited once in the city of Saint-Dié, at the 3rd Fine Arts 4 exhibition in 1894.

At the turn of the century, Antoine-Henri Maclot-Hamant collaborated with the painter and decorator Paul Martignon (1870-1943). Together, they displayed their décorative paintings at the Nancy Salons from 1894 to 1904,and in Remiremont (at the 1895 Fine Art exhibition), at Gérardmer in 1896, and in Metz in 1907.Their artistic collaboration was very successful especially  in the Meurthe-et-Moselle region.

The pair of painters specialized in interior decorations. Paul Martignon and Henri Maclot received many commissions to carry out decorative paintings in private businesses, in Verdun (l’hôtel du Coq Hardi), and mainly in Nancy (at the Casino des Familles, at the Hôtel d’Angleterre, at the Grand Café Glacier, at the Grande Brasserie Lorraine). They also painted ceilings in private mansions and entrance halls in apartment buildings. The two artists also composed two large impressive decorative ensembles in Nancy. They obtained a public commission to paint the Apotheosis of Saint Julien on the tympanum of the entrance portal of the chapel of Saint-Julien hospital. In 1899, they painted large Egyptian-inspired figures for the Masonic Lodge of Saint John of Jerusalem in the Nancy Masonic temple of the Grand Orient de France, registered as a French Historical Monument since 2006. From 1905 onward, Antoine-Henri Maclot-Hamant exhibited again as a solo artist in art shows. His paintings rely on diverse sources of inspiration (with mythological or religious references).