French
1844-1910
Henri Rousseau Locations
He was born in Laval in the Loire Valley into the family of a plumber. He attended Laval High School as a day student and then as a boarder, after his father became a debtor and his parents had to leave the town upon the seizure of their house. He was mediocre in some subjects at the high school but won prizes for drawing and music. He worked for a lawyer and studied law, but "attempted a small perjury and sought refuge in the army," serving for four years, starting in 1863. With his father's death, Rousseau moved to Paris in 1868 to support his widowed mother as a government employee. In 1871, he was promoted to the toll collector's office in Paris as a tax collector. He started painting seriously in his early forties, and by age 49 he retired from his job to work on his art. His wife died in 1888 and he later remarried.
Rousseau claimed he had "no teacher other than nature", although he admitted he had received "some advice" from two established Academic painters, Felix Auguste-Clement and Jean-Leon Gerome. Essentially he was self-taught and is considered to be a naive or primitive painter. Related Paintings of Henri Rousseau :. | The Dream | In a Tropical Forest: Fight Between a Tiger and a Bull | The Battle of Champigny | Portrait of a Child | War (mk09) | Related Artists:
Bernardo BellotooItalian Rococo Era Painter, ca.1721-1780
Lhermitte, LeonFrench Realist Painter, 1844-1925
was a French painter and etcher of the late nineteenth century. A student of Lecocq de Boisbourdran, he was a realist artist whose primary subject matter was of rural scenes depicting the peasant worker. He gained recognition after his show in the Paris Salon in 1864. His many awards include the French Legion of Honour (1884) and the Grand Prize at the Exposition Universelle in 1889. Lhermitte's innovative use of the then contemporary media of pastels won him the admiration of his contemporaries. Vincent Van Gogh wrote that If every month Le Monde Illustr published one of his compositions... it would be a great pleasure for me to be able to follow it. It is certain that for years I have not seen anything as beautiful as this scene by Lhermitte
Francois-Hubert DrouaisParis 1727-Rome 1775
was a French painter and Jean-Germain Drouais's father. He specialized in portraits, some of which include Louis XV's last two mistresses, Madame de Pompadour and Madame du Barry respectively. He even painted the young Marie Antoinette.