Charles-François Daubigny

• Name — Charles-François Daubigny • Born — 15 February 1817 • Birthplace — Paris, France • Died — 19 February 1878 • Place of death — Paris, France • Known for — Painting • Movement — Barbizon school

Daubigny was born in Paris, into a family of painters; taught art by his father, Edmé-François Daubigny, and his uncle, miniaturist Pierre Daubigny (1793–1858). He was also a pupil of Jean-Victor Bertin, Jacques Raymond Brascassat and Paul Delaroche, from whom he would quickly emancipate himself. Though best known for his painted landscapes, Daubigny survived for many years as a graphic artist, illustrating books, magazines and travel guides for publication. In 1838, he set up, at the Rue des Amandiers-Popincourt, a community of artists, a phalanstery, with Adolphe-Victor Geoffroy-Dechaume, Hippolyte Lavoignat, Ernest Meissonnier, Auguste Steinheil, Louis Joseph Trimolet, with whom he already had expressed his interest in subjects drawn directly from daily life and nature. These artists will work, among others, for the publisher Léon Curmer, who was specialized in books illustrated with vignettes. From this period date the first confirmed engravings by Daubigny. Initially Daubigny painted in a more traditional style, but this changed after 1843 when he settled in Barbizon to work outside in nature. Even more important was his meeting with Camille Corot in 1852 in Optevoz (Isère). From 1852 onward, he was influenced by Gustave Courbet. The two artists were from the same generation and were driven by the realist movement: during a joint stay, each composed a series of views of Optevoz. In 1848, Daubigny worked on behalf of the Chalcographie du Louvre, performing facsimiles, which testifies to his great expertise in this art, and revisiting the technique of aquatint in a less cumbersome process. His famous series of Rolling Carts dates from this period. • Illustration — Self-portrait of Daubigny painting in his floating studio, from Voyage en Bateau. In 1857, Daubigny bought a boat and outfitted it as a floating studio, taking his first excursion in November of that year. As "captain" of the Botin, he painted along the Seine and Oise, often in the region around Auvers. In 1862, Daubigny published Voyage en Bateau, a series of 19 etchings (including the title page) depicting the artist's life on and along the water in his floating atelier, accompanied by a "cabin boy," his son Karl. "This was a practice that greatly inspired Claude Monet, who followed Daubigny and made his own studio boat." In 1862, with Corot, he experimented with the cliché-verre technique, a process halfway between photography and printmaking. In 1866, he joined the jury of the Paris Salon for the first time, alongside his friend Corot. The same year, Daubigny visited England, eventually returning because of the Franco-Prussian War, in 1870. In London he met Claude Monet, and they left for the Netherlands together. Back in Auvers, he was visited by an admiring Paul Cézanne. Daubigny died in Paris in 1878. His remains are interred at cimetière du Père-Lachaise (division 24).

The life of Daubigny was adapted into a graphic novel by Belgian comics writer Bruno de Roover and artist Luc Cromheecke. It appeared under the title De Tuin van Daubigny in 2016, and in an ebook English translation by James Vandermeersch, as Daubigny's Garden, in 2017.

• Illustration — Pool Beneath Trees (1850), Museum of Modern Art André Malraux, Le Havre • Illustration — The Harvest (1851), Musée d'Orsay, Paris • Illustration — The Ponds of Gylieu (1853), Cincinnati Art Museum • Illustration — The River Seine at Mantes (1856), Brooklyn Museum • Illustration — Banks of the Oise (1863), Saint Louis Art Museum • Illustration — The Creek (1863), Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts • Illustration — Twilight (1866), Walters Art Museum, Baltimore • Illustration — The Bridge between Persan and Beaumont-sur-Oise (1867), Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts • Illustration — La Confluence de la Seine et de l'Oise (1868), Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest • Illustration — Les Blanchisseuses (1870–1874), The Frick Collection, New York • Illustration — Les Sables-d'Olonne, Artizon Museum, Tokyo • Illustration — Boats on the Seacoast at Étaples (1871), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York • Illustration — Les Laveuses (1873), Aberdeen Art Gallery • Illustration — Lever de lune à Auvers, or Le Retour du troupeau (1878), Montreal Museum of Fine Arts • Illustration — Farm at Kerity, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague • Illustration — The Painter’s Barge at the Ile de Vaux on the Oise River (1877), Dallas Museum of Art

The authorities additionally record the headings Daubigny, Charles-François, Добиньи, Ш.-Ф. 1817-1878 Шарль-Франсуа, D'Aubigny, 1817-1878, Charles-François Daubigny and Daubigny, Charles François (French landscapist, 1817-1878). His recorded language was French. He was the child of Edmé-François Daubigny. One child is recorded: Karl Daubigny. Other recorded relations include Pierre Daubigny.

Charles-François Daubigny worked in painting and visual arts. His work is associated with Barbizon school. He belonged to Barbizon school. He worked at Paris and London.

Among the public collections holding works by Charles-François Daubigny are: