BOUDIN, LOUIS EUGENE (1824-1898), French marine painter, was born at Honfleur, the son of a pilot, on July 12 1824, and died at Deauville on Aug. 8 1898. The father gave up the sea for a small stationer's shop in Havre. Troyon and Millet came to the shop and discovered the boy's talent for art, and Courbet and Alphonse Karr found their way there. Boudin went to Paris to study, and, of ter a short time, returned to his native place. He was a follower of Corot, and in his turn became the master of Monet. The Ecole St. Simeon, named after the farm which was its headquarters, dates from 1856. In this colony Boudin was a leader. The group included Millet, Courbet, Diaz, Harpignies, Jongkind, Isabey, Monet and others. Boudin presently moved to Trouville and then married and set up house in Havre. From onwards he exhibited at the Salon but without attracting much notice until his "Corvette russe" was bought by the State for the Luxembourg gallery in 1888. In 1896 the "Rade de Villefranche" was bought for the same gallery, and Boudin, then over 7o, received the Legion of Honour. He died two years later.
Boudin's best work is in his small canvases. As the painter of tidal rivers Boudin is pre-eminent, and Corot called him the "master of the sea." A large number of his sketches are at Havre.
See G. Cahen, Eugene Boudin (1899) ; W. Dewhurst, Impressionist Painting (1 goo) .