Barbizon school of painting. French landscape painters

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The Barbizon school of painting is a group of French landscape painters. The school got its name in honor of the small village of Barbizon in the north of France, in Fontainebleau. Such famous Barbizon artists as Millet, Rousseau and many other representatives of this trend lived in this place. In their work, they relied on the Dutch traditions of painting, which were proclaimed by Jacob van Ruysdael, Jan van Goyen, Meindert Hobbema and many others.

The Barbizon school of landscape also drew from the style of French landscape painters such as Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin. Among other things, the work of the Barbizonians was greatly influenced by their contemporaries who were not part of the group - Delacroix, Corot, Courbet.

Landscape Art

Landscape is a genre of art where the main subject of the image is nature, whether it is untouched and pristine or to some extent transformed by human hand. Particular importance is given to perspective and composition, as well as the correct transmission of the atmosphere, light and air environment, and its variability. In the paintings of the Barbizonians, rural landscapes often flashed - the artists sought to capturethe beauty that surrounds them.

Landscapes are considered quite a young genre of painting. For many centuries, nature and the environment have been depicted in addition to the characters in the paintings. Nature was rather used as a decoration, whether it was icon painting or genre scenes.

Later, with the development of scientific progress, as well as the accumulation of knowledge about perspective, the rules of composition and color, natural views became a full-fledged participant in the overall composition of the picture. Over time, nature became the central object of the image, which resulted in a separate genre.

History

For a long time, landscape paintings were generalized, idealized images. A big breakthrough in the artist's awareness of the meaning of landscapes was the image of a certain specific area. Thus, the art of landscape moved away from imaginary, idealized views and became more understandable and pleasing to the eye. The public began to trust more sights that were familiar to them or reminded them of something they had seen in real life.

As a painting genre, the landscape declared itself in the field of European art, despite the fact that in the East there have long been traditions of landscape drawing, which had a deep and integral philosophy, expressing the attitude of the inhabitants of Ancient China, Japan and others Eastern countries not only to nature, but also to life and death. However, oriental landscape art over time had a considerable influence on European artistic traditions.

The paintings of French artists and other Europeans of the 17th-18th centuries are an example of aestheticideas about the landscape. The works of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists were the culmination of the development of this genre.

The heyday of landscape creativity was the emergence of plein air landscape, which is associated with the creation of tube paints. Oil paintings of landscapes, which were easy to use and take with you, took this genre to a new level. After all, this innovation allowed the painter to leave his art studio and work outdoors, with natural light. This greatly enriched the motifs of landscape works, and also brought art closer to a simple viewer: rural landscapes became more real and understandable to a simple public.

The first works in the pre-Barbizon spirit were demonstrated at the Paris Salon in 1831, literally immediately after the 1830 revolution. Particular attention was drawn to Delacroix's painting en titled "Freedom on the Barricades". Two years later, Rousseau exhibited his painting "The Outskirts of Granville", which was highly appreciated by Dupre. From that moment, their friendship is established, which marked the beginning of the formation of the school.

Features of landscapes

Under the dominance of academicism, landscapes were classified as a "secondary genre", but with the advent of the Impressionists, this direction gained its authority. When looking at the best landscape paintings in oil or any other material, you can almost physically feel your own presence in the medium of the picture, almost smell the painted sea, the breeze, hear the silence of the forest or the rustle of leaves. This is true art.

Pictureslandscape painters depict open space, which includes the earth or water surface. Also, various buildings or equipment, vegetation, meteorological or astronomical phenomena may be present on the canvas.

Sometimes a landscape painter can also include figurative images - people or animals. But usually they are depicted as fleeting situations, being an addition to the image of nature, and not the main part of it. In the landscape composition, they are given the role of staffing rather than the main characters.

According to the motif, the following types of landscapes can be distinguished:

• rustic or rural;
• urban (including industrial and veduta);
• seascape or marina.

At the same time, landscapes can be chamber or panoramic. In addition, landscape works differ in character:

• lyrical;
• historical;
• romantic;
• heroic;
• epic;
• fantastic;
• abstract.

Representatives

The French village of Barbizon, which is located near the royal residence of Fontainebleau, has been attracting landscape painters with its beauties for many centuries. Nature in this place has retained its untouched beauty, dense forests and soothing silence. This place became an ideal cradle for the Barbizon school of painting, which included such famous artists as T. Rousseau, J. Dupre, D. de la Peña, F. Millet. In those days, it was easy to meet them on the paths of local forests and villages with an easel or a notebook. They were one ofthe first who resorted to plein-air sketches in their work.

G. Courbier, young C. Troyon, Chantreil, C. Daubigny, as well as the famous sculptor A. Bari also visited Barbizon. In addition, nearby, in places called Chailly and Marlotte, such masters as C. Monet, P. Cezanne, Sisley, J. Seurat worked. Artists rented houses here and created freely - so many genuine masterpieces were painted in Barbizon.

Barbizons saw in nature not only an aesthetic, but also a moral principle. They believed that it ennobles a person, as opposed to a corrupting city. Many of them called Paris the New Babylon.

But there are also contradictions in the views of the Barbizonians: although they strove for an honest depiction of nature, they denied realism as an artistic direction, considering it too clumsy and prosaic. They also did not recognize a sharp social or, moreover, political orientation in art.

However, this contradiction is easily explained if we understand that the Barbizonians paid attention not so much to the appearance of objects as to their essence, and that is why they intentionally “blurred” the boundaries of real objects, denying realism and turning the viewer’s gaze deeper into value

Meaning

The beginning of the 19th century was the time of the struggle between romanticism and classicism in French art. Academics recognized the landscape as a backdrop against which the plot action unfolds with the participation of mythical characters. Romantics, on the other hand, created slightly embellished landscapes.

When the Barbizons entered the arena, they broughta new meaning to landscape art: depicting realistic nature, they resorted to the motives of their homeland with ordinary plots, with the participation of ordinary people engaged in their daily work. Representatives of the Barbizon school of painting created a special, national realistic landscape. This was a huge step in the development of not only French pictorial art, but also other European schools that embarked on the rails of realism of the 19th century.

The meaning of the Barbizon is to create a realistic landscape and prepare the creative ground for the birth of Impressionism. A characteristic technique of the representatives of this school was the creation of a quick sketch in the open air, followed by the completion of work in the studio - this technique anticipated the impending impressionism.

Ruisdael

Jacob Isaacs van Ruysdael is one of the most important Dutch landscape painters. Unlike many artists of the 17th century, he was especially sensitive to the atmosphere and mood of the landscape and actively emphasized the role of landscape detail. Although in this century Dutch painting flourished in this area, Ruisdael's work did not drown in this diversity due to the special expression, color and variety of subjects of his work. The work of this artist had a great influence on many generations of European landscape painters, including representatives of the Barbizon school of painting.

With the move of the creator to Amsterdam, his works have acquired a new quality: his style has become more majestic and rich. It was then that for the first timeunder his brush, the now famous Reisdal sky, covered with clouds, was born. This detail later became a real hallmark of the artist.

But the sky did not draw all attention to itself: Jacob van Ruysdael depicted with particular meticulousness all the details of the visible reality and his observations. Many of his paintings even stand out for their detailed topographical accuracy, but sometimes he turned to his imagination as well. For example, this applies to his landscapes with waterfalls: Ruisdael never went to places where waterfalls could be found, but he painted them based on the paintings of Alart van Everdingen, who visited Norway and Sweden.

So Jacob van Ruisdael painted his Scandinavian landscapes, while never visiting those parts - he created his works based on the work of artists known to him. Interestingly, this series of his spawned a huge number of imitators who tried to imitate the manner of Ruisdael, who himself had never been to Scandinavia.

But Ruisdael's forest landscapes became the most famous - it is from them that his influence on the Barbizon School becomes obvious. However, he influenced English authors much more strongly - this is especially noticeable in the works of Gainsborough and Constable.

Russo

The main inspirer of the school was Pierre-Etienne-Théodore Rousseau, born in 1812. For the first time he arrived in Fontainebleau in 1828-1829 and immediately set to writing sketches. After Rousseau went to Normandy, where he painted his first masterpieces, among them "Market in Normandy". For five years he wandered around France, including staying for some time in Barbizon and the Vendée, where he created the Chestnut Alley. Theodore Rousseau climbed even into the most distant places that did not attract other artists - this is how he wrote, for example, "The Swamp in the Landes".

On the eve of the revolution, he settled with his friend the critic Tore in Barbizna in a peasant house - there he wrote his main works. Gradually, a circle of friends began to gather in their house, the same artists. Over the next few years, he created his famous canvases, such as “Exit from the Forest of Fontainebleau. Sunset”, “Oaks in Apremont”, “Descent of cows from the high mountain pastures of the Jura”. Although Rousseau did not host the Paris Salon for thirteen years, the Universal Exhibition of 1855 gave him success and respect.

Dupre

The closest in creative manner to Rousseau was Jules Dupre, who was only a year older than him. Jules' work was influenced by a trip to the UK and acquaintance with the work of Costeble, as well as close communication with Caba. Realistic sentiments intensified in it, as a result of which Dupre was no longer accepted at the Paris Salon.

With Rousseau, they worked not only in the Barbizon village, but also in various parts of France, while managing to maintain their creative individualities. In 1849, Dupre received the Order of the Legion of Honor, which was the reason for a quarrel with Rousseau - he did not receive the order. This ended the collaboration. The following years, Dupre created his most famous masterpieces: “Country Landscape”, “Oldoak", "Evening", "Lands", "Oaks by the pond". Until 1867, he did not send his plots to the Salon. And since 1868, Jules Dupree began to get out in Caye-sir-Mer, where he painted his marinas, such as “Sea Ebb in Normandy.”

De la Peña

Narsis Virgilio Diaz de la Pena did not immediately come to a realistic landscape. His friendship with Rousseau fell into the second half of his life. At first, he was fond of romanticism - de la Peña's favorite artist was Correggi. His work looked festive and bright. Having collected laurels at the Paris Salon, since 1844, Diaz soon began working together with Rousseau.

In the forest of Fontainebleau his style changed. Then he created his landscapes "Forest road", "Hill in Jean-de-Paris", "Landscape with a pine tree", "Road through the forest", "Autumn in Fontainebleau", "Edge of the forest", "Old mill near Barbizon". Although less frequently mentioned, Diaz de la Peña was also a member of the Barbizon landscape painters.

Millet

Unlike other Barbizonians, Jean-Francois Millet was born in a rural environment, was the son of a simple peasant. At the beginning of his career, he was fond of Poussin and Michelangelo, and, in addition to landscapes, he painted in other genres. Charles-Emile Jacques had a considerable influence on the formation of the artist.

Millet created his first painting with a "peasant" plot in 1848. A year later, he moved with Jacques to Barbizon, where he struck up a friendship with Rousseau and became a member of the Barbizon group and a villager, inwhich he lived to the end of his life. There, Millet paints his paintings with peasants engaged in simple labor: The Sower, Gatherers of Ears, Gatherers of Brushwood, Man with a Hoe, and many others. Particularly interesting are the last paintings of the creator - "Cleaning Buckwheat", "Spring", "Hacks: Autumn". Millet is a typical representative of the Barbizon school of landscape.

Dobigny

Creativity of Charles-Francois Daubigny began with a trip to Italy, where he began to write narrative works. Exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1840, St. Jerome” found a resounding success, after which he began to illustrate books by various French writers: Balzac, Paul de Coq, Victor Hugo, Yuzhen Xu and others.

Daubigny came to the landscape only at the end of the 40s, when he met Corot and became friends with him. Unlike other representatives of the school, the artist paid great attention to light in his works, which makes him related to the Impressionists. So he created his paintings "The Harvest", "The Big Optevo Valley", "The Dam in the Optevo Valley".

By the end of the 1950s, he realized his old dream and built a workshop boat, on which he later traveled along the rivers of France. This trip gave birth to many famous paintings: “Sandy coast in Villerville”, “Seashore in Villerville”, “Banks of the river Loing”, “Morning”, “Village on the banks of the Oise”.

Other Barbizonians

It is also worth noting other important artists who are classified as part of the Barbizon group.

KonstanTroyon was friends with Dupre and Rousseau, and worked with them for some time. But after a trip to Holland, he became interested in the work of Potter and switched from the landscape to the image of animals. Among his famous paintings are “Bulls go to plowing. Morning”, “Departure to the market”.

In addition, Nicolas-Louis Caba, Auguste Anastasi, Eugene Ciceri, Henri Arpigny, Francois Francais, Leon-Victor Dupre, Isidore Danyan and many others belonged to the circle of Barbizonians. However, art historians are inclined to believe that it is impossible to clearly limit the circle of Barbizonians. As for the followers, numerous students of the school were never able to surpass their teachers. Their paintings are found in small towns in France and are virtually unknown.

Barbizons and Russia

In Russia, the work of the Barbizons is highly revered and respected. Quite a large number of Barbizon paintings were in the private collection of Count N. A. Kushelev-Bezborodko, later they were transferred to the Hermitage. Also, many works by representatives of the Barbizon school were in the collection of the famous writer I. S. Turgenev: the work of Rousseau, two landscapes by Daubigny and two canvases by Diaz, “Huts” by Dupre and many others.

The work of the Barbizons had a considerable influence on Russian artists F. Vasiliev, Levitan, Savrasov. V. V. Stasov in his work “The Art of the 19th Century” highly appreciated the representatives of the school for the fact that they did not “compose” landscapes, but created from nature. In his opinion, they conveyed the true beauty of nature, putting their personal emotional experiences into the paint.

Thus, the Barbizons not only became a certainstage in the development of pictorial art, but also largely determined the development of landscape painting in the future. Their work is still highly valued among art historians and ordinary viewers.