Charles Francois Daubigny
French, 1817-1878

On the Oise, n.d.
oil on canvas
15 x 22 in.

SBMA, Gift of Dr. Robert and Christine Emmons
2001.1



Portrait by Nadar.

"The best paintings do not sell". Charles Francois Daubigny

RESEARCH PAPER

Charles-Francois Daubigny was truly a man of the 19th century. He was born 17 years after the opening of the century and died 22 years before it's close. Living in Paris for most of his life, Daubigny witnessed 3 revolutions. In 1830 a popular revolt in Paris deposed Charles X who had attempted to restore power to the old aristocracy from the days before the French Revolution of 1789. In 1848 his successor Louis Philippe was overthrown and a republic was proclaimed. Unfortunately for republicanism, the first elected president of the republic was Louis Napoleon, a nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte's. The title Emperor evidently appealed to him as much as it had to his uncle, because in 1852 he suspended the republic declaring himself Emperor Napoleon III. In 1870 he was deposed for leading France into a disastrous was against Prussia. Against this background of political turmoil, social life was being transformed by industrialization and urbanization. Paris was virtually rebuilt by Napoleon III and the emerging city absorbed nearby small towns and villages, creating a new remoteness from the countryside for the urban-dweller.

The response of artists to these changes were manifold. The preeminent painter of the turn of the century had been Jacques-Louis David, the neo-classicist portrayer of Napoleon I and champion of the ideals of the French Revolution. He had many followers, including Paul Delaroche, whose main themes were historical subjects depicted in a neo-classical manner. Paintings of landscapes at this time were required to have a historical theme since landscapes alone were not considered suitable subjects for art. Official patronage was the means of existence for painters. In France official patronage had always been the path to success for artists. As a young man Daubigny studied with Paul Delaroche. However, early in his career he rejected the life of an academic painter, dependent for his livelihood on official commissions. Starting in 1843, he began to take extensive trips to Barbizon, a hamlet about 10 miles south of Paris on the edge of the Forest of Fontainbleau. There he exchanged ideas with a group of artists who were taking painting in radical new directions. Their thinking was influenced by philosophers such as Voltaire and Rousseau who equated nature with purity and the Divine, and also by current theories of social utopianism which looked upon the poor, the working class as heroes in the struggle against social inequality. The innocent-sounding goal of the Barbizon painters was to bring a new naturalism to landscape painting. In 1848 between 45 to 50 artists spent the summer at Barbizon painting scenes of the forest and countryside. Colleagues of Daubigny's from that time include Theodore Roussseau, Jules Dupre, Diaz de la Pena, Jean-Francois Millet, Constant Troyon and Camille Corot. Today it is surprising that the Barbizon painters lyrical themes of nature and life in the countryside could have been viewed as revolutionary. Count Nieuwerke, Superintendent of Fine Arts under Napoleon III famously said of the naturalistic painters of his day, "This is the painting of democrats, of those who do not change their linen, who seek to force themselves on the men of the world; I find this art unpleasant and disgusting." (1)

Daubigny spent most of his life painting intimate scenes of the countryside around Paris. His paintings have a gentle, nostalgic, contemplative mood. There is a sense of harmony with nature in his depictions of rural life. As a counter-balance to the fast changing pace of city life, Daubigny painted reassuring scenes of an unchanging way of life in the countryside. He was particularly attracted to rivers and frequently painted along the banks of the Seine and the Oise. In 1857 he outfitted a floating studio on a small boat he called Le Botin and launched it on the Oise. In 1860 he built a house at Auvers on the Oise which enabled him to spend long periods of painting along the river. Although he was not the first painter to work en plein-air, it is probably true that he did so to a greater degree than anyone before him. His friend Henriet described his method of working in 1864, "Daubigny attached his canvas to stakes solidly planted in the ground, and there it stayed, risking the attacks of goats and bulls, and open to the pranks of naughty children. It was not taken down until it was perfectly finished. The painter had chosen a gray sky filled with fat clouds chased by the angry wind. He was constantly on the alert for the right moment and ran to take up his work as soon as the weather corresponded to that of his painting."(2) This desire to capture a fleeting moment directly is evident in his lively brushwork which was very innovative. He also broke new ground in the use of spots of color to create an impression rather than clearly defining his subject.

On the Oise is one of many paintings with this generic title completed in the 1860s. It depicts a bend in the river with a small figure of a woman on the riverbank, probably washing clothes. A dense, wooded area is balanced by the open countryside. It is an overcast day and the sky is filled with billowing clouds. The horizon is fairly high in this picture so the sky assumes less importance than in many of his paintings where the sky and it's reflection in a river fills most of the canvas. Daubigny loved to paint the pale, cloud-streaked, silvery skies of northern Europe. It is probably twilight and there is a sense of stillness and tranquility. It is a quiet, intimate scene. The colors harmoniously blend together with occasional flashes of color on the water, in the sky and in the red scarf on the woman's head. This painting is a good example of the disappearing distinction between a color sketch and a completed work. Daubigny was interested in capturing the feeling of a moment while he was painting outdoors and he did not want to change that feeling by composing a highly finished painting in a distant studio. His brushwork is very evident: the paint is heavily applied in short, thick strokes so that the viewer is aware of the surface of the painting.

The impressionistic style of painting pioneered by Daubigny influenced a younger generation of painters who, in the 1870s, came to be called the Impressionists. His working en plein-air, his preference for an overall feeling rather than carefully observed details in paintings, and his painterly brushwork were all very influential. Daubigny admired and championed the work of this newer generation, especially Pisarro, Sisley, Degas, Cezanne and Monet. Although he admired their experimental work in the areas of color and composition, he did not adopt it in his own work. Despite the greater fame of the Impressionists, Daubigny deserves an honored place in the history of 19th century art.

Biography of Charles-Francois Daubigny
Charles-Francois Daubigny was born in Paris in 1817. His father, Edme-Francois, was a landscape painter and was his son's first teacher. Charles-Francois was a frail child so his family removed him from the unhealthful atmosphere of Paris to the village of Valmondois until he was 9 years old.

As a young man he began to contribute to the family income by painting decorative boxes. His skill in painting led to work at the Louvre and Versailles restoring paintings that had been damaged in revolutionary times. He traveled and studied in Italy from 1836-1837. Upon his return to Paris he studied briefly in the Paris studio of Paul Delaroche. For the next few years he made a living illustrating books and journals, becoming skilled in the techniques of etching, lithography and woodcut.

Daubigny exhibited a painting in the Paris Salon for the first time in 1838. Thereafter his paintings were regularly exhibited at the Salons and his work became well known. In 1853 one of his paintings was purchased by Emperor Louis Napoleon. In 1859 he was made a knight in the Legion of Honor and in 1865 he was chosen to become a juror of Salon exhibitions. He used this position of influence to support many of the Impressionist painters who were struggling for acceptance at that time, particularly Pisarro, Monet, Sisley and Degas.

Daubigny died in Paris in 1878, having devoted much of his life to painting scenes of the countryside around Paris.

l . Parinaud, Andre. Barbizon: The Origins o f Impressionism. (Bonfini Press, Vaduz, Lichtenstein, 1994), p.22.

2. Fidell-Beaufort, Madeleine / Bailly-Herzberg, Janine. Daubigny. (Editions Geoffrey-Dechaume, Paris, 1975), p.55.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Fidell-Beaufort, Madeleine / Bailly-Herzberg, Janine. Daubigny. editions Geoffrey-Dechaume, Paris, 1975.

Lenard, Ann. Nineteenth Century European Paintings in the Collection of the Santa Barbara useum of Art. Doctoral dissertation, U.C. Santa Barbara, December 1992.

Novotny, Fritz. The Pelican History of Art. Penguin, Baltimore, 1971.

Parinaud, Andre. Barbizon: The Origins of Impressionism. Bonfini Press, Vaduz, Lichtenstein, 1994.

www.europeanpaintings.com/exhibits/frlscape/daubgbio.htm.Daubigny.

Prepared for the Santa Barbara Museum of Art Docent Council by Jadzia McDonough March 2001