DAUBIGNY, do'bnryty, CIIARLES FRANI:0IS (1817-78). A Freud' landscape painter, born in Paris on February 15, 1817. His father was a teacher of drawing and a painter who occasion ally exhibited at the Salon. Charles Francois was brought up by an old nurse at Valmandois, near lle-Adam, where he remained until tenth year. In this, his childhol81 home, to which Ire frequently returned, and where he finally settled, he imbibed his great love for nature. On his return to Paris he helped support the family by painting articles like fans, snuff-boxes, and even business signs. In his seventeenth year he went to Italy with a friend and fellow artist, traveling on foot. He remained there for a year, but was not much influenced by his sojourn. In 1510 he entered the studio of Delaroche, with a view to competing for the Prix de Rome, but having been disqualified, he was thrown upon his own resources. lie turned to nature, and was thenceforth a landscape painter. With the exception of the years 1842-40, he exhibited every year in the Salon. He received a second class medal in 1S4S, a first-class in 1S52, and in 1S57 he was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Gratified- with his success in painting river scenery, he built a house at Anvers on the Oise, near his childhood home. lie constructed a curious boat, the Botin, at the same time a house and a. studio, in which, accompanied by his son Karl, he navigated at will, sketching river scenery. In 1876 he visited Normandy, bringing back with him many sketches of the sea and the shores of the channel. During the latter part of his life he suffered much from rheumatism con tracted on his river trips. Fie. died in Paris on February 20, 1S78.
Daubigny was the youngest of the five great landscape painters of the Barbizon School. The rest were perhaps greater discoverers than he. 'they painted nature with figures as a subor dinate incident of the scene, and only adding to the artistic sentiment they wished to express. Daubigny painted the country, that is to say, nature as affected by man. although men do not usually appear in his scenes. There are cer
tain kinds of landscapes which he may be said to have discovered, and which are indissolubly linked with his name. Ile is the great painter of river scenery of central France, on the Seine. the Marne, and the Oise; of orchards, full of white blossoms or laden with ripe fruit, and of the fields; of the sea and of the shores of the Chan nel. His favorite light was at dusk, in the cool of the evening, or the pale light of the moon. A delicate shade of vaporous air pervades his paint ings; his values are just, and the colors are properly juxtaposed. His paintings do not al ways present distinctness of outline, for drawing was not his strong point, hut the handling is massive and powerful. In his early period he paid more attention to detail, hut he increasingly adopted greater breadth of treatment, and his last works may almost he called impressionist.
Among his chief works are the "Valley of Optevoz," which took the gold medal in 1853. In the Louvre are his "Springtime," in which one can fairly smell the apple-blossoms and see the green grass grow, the "Lock of the Optevoz," and the "Vintage." Other important works aro the "Beach at Villerville" (1859) : "Moonrise" (18(i1) ; "The Sheepfold" (1866) ; and the "Ap ple Orchard" (1876), an autumnal scene in which the prevailing tone is a dark, rich green, with apples ripe fur the pickers. The chief public galleries of America are well supplied with his works, as are also some of the private collections. Danbigny unfortunately sold to dealers a large number of works which :lie little more than sketches.. These are frequently out with in picture collection., but no adequate con ception of his work can lie formed from them. Be sides being a great painter, Daubigny was art etcher of repute. especially in the period a fter his return from Italy.
Consult: Stranahan, History of French .1r1 Now York, 1(u00) ; Dustin, "Daubigny," in U.s .4 rtistcs eelf'brcs: Tryon, "Daubigny," in Van Dyke's Modern French Masters (New York, 1890 ) ; Ileuriet, Daubigny et son crurrc ( Pa ris, 1878).