In 1824 the Salon de Paris exhibited works by the English artist John Constable. His rural scenes influenced some of the younger French artists of the period, inspiring them to abandon formalism and to draw inspiration directly from nature. Natural scenes became the subjects of their paintings rather than mere backdrops to dramatic events. The [...]
In 1824 the Salon de Paris exhibited works by the English artist John Constable. His rural scenes influenced some of the younger French artists of the period, inspiring them to abandon formalism and to draw inspiration directly from nature. Natural scenes became the subjects of their paintings rather than mere backdrops to dramatic events. The Barbizon School is named after the village of Barbizon near the Fontainebleau Forest, where the artists painted from 1848. The leaders of the Barbizon school were Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, Théodore Rousseau, Jean-François Millet and Charles-François Daubigny; other members included Jules Dupré, Constant Troyon, Charles Jacque, Narcisse Virgilio Diaz, Charles Olivier de Penne, Henri Harpignies, Gabriel Hippolyte LeBas (1812-1880), Albert Charpin, Félix Ziem, Anton Mauve, François-Louis Français and Alexandre DeFaux. Both Rousseau (1867) and Millet (1875) died at Barbizon.