Gustave Courbet

{"Id":746,"Name":"Gustave Courbet","Biography":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECOURBET, GUSTAVE (1819-1877)\u003C/strong\u003E, French painter, was born at Ornans (Doubs) on the 10th of June 1819. He went to Paris in 1839, and worked at the studio of Steuben and Hesse; but his independent spirit did not allow him to remain there long, as he preferred to work out his own way by the study of Spanish, Flemish and French painters. His first works, an \u003Cu\u003EOdalisque\u003C/u\u003E, suggested by \u003Ca class=\u0022link\u0022 href=\u0022http://www.bartleby.com/65/hu/Hugo-Vic.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EVictor Hugo\u003C/a\u003E, and a \u003Cu\u003ELlia\u003C/u\u003E, illustrating \u003Ca class=\u0022link\u0022 href=\u0022http://www.bartleby.com/65/sa/Sand-Geo.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EGeorge Sand\u003C/a\u003E, were literary subjects; but these he soon abandoned for the study of real life. Among other works he painted his own portrait with his dog, and \u003Cu\u003EThe Man with a Pipe\u003C/u\u003E, both of which were rejected by the jury of the Salon; but the younger school of critics, the neo-romantics and realists, loudly sang the praises of Courbet, who by 1849 began to be famous, producing such pictures as \u003Cu\u003EAfter Dinner at Ornans\u003C/u\u003E and \u003Cu\u003EThe Valley of the Loire\u003C/u\u003E. The Salon of 1850 found him triumphant with the \u003Cu\u003EBurial at Ornans\u003C/u\u003E, the \u003Cu\u003EStone-Breakers\u003C/u\u003E and the \u003Cu\u003EPeasants of Flazey\u003C/u\u003E. His style still gained in individuality, as in \u003Cu\u003EVillage Damsels\u003C/u\u003E (1852), the \u003Cu\u003EWrestlers\u003C/u\u003E, \u003Cu\u003EBathers\u003C/u\u003E, and \u003Cu\u003EA Girl Spinning\u003C/u\u003E (1852). Though Courbet\u0027s realistic work is not devoid of importance, it is as a landscape and sea painter that he will be most honoured by posterity. Sometimes, it must be owned, his realism is rather coarse and brutal, but when he paints the forests of Franche-Comt, the \u003Cu\u003EStag-Fight\u003C/u\u003E, \u003Cu\u003EThe Wave\u003C/u\u003E, or the \u003Cu\u003EHaunt of the Does\u003C/u\u003E. [...] When Courbet had made a name as an artist he grew ambitious of other glory; he tried to promote democratic and social science, and under the Empire he wrote essays and dissertations. His refusal of the cross of the Legion of Honour, offered to him by \u003Ca class=\u0022link\u0022 href=\u0022http://www.bartleby.com/65/na/Napoleon3.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ENapoleon III\u003C/a\u003E, made him immensely popular, and in 1871 he was elected, under the Commune, to the chamber. Thus it happened that he was responsible for the destruction of the Vendme column. A council of war, before which he was tried, condemned him to pay the cost of restoring the column, 300,000 francs (\u0026pound;12,000). To escape the necessity of working to the end of his days at the orders of the State in order to pay this sum, Courbet went to Switzerland in 1873, and died at La Tour du Peilz, on the 31st of December 1877, of a disease of the liver aggravated by intemperance. An exhibition of his works was held in 1882 at the cole des Beaux-Arts.\u003Cbr /\u003E\u003Cbr /\u003E\u003Cu\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESelect Bibliography:\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/u\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\u003Cli type=\u0022square\u0022\u003EChampfleury. \u003Cu\u003ELes Grandes Figures dhier et daujourd hui\u003C/u\u003E. Paris,1861.\u003C/li\u003E\r\n\u003Cli type=\u0022square\u0022\u003EMantz. \u003Cu\u003EG. Courbet\u003C/u\u003E. Gazette des Beaux-Arts. Paris, 1878.\u003C/li\u003E\r\n\u003Cli type=\u0022square\u0022\u003EZola. \u003Cu\u003EMes Haines\u003C/u\u003E. Paris, 1879.\u003C/li\u003E\r\n\u003Cli type=\u0022square\u0022\u003ELemonnier, C. \u003Cu\u003ELes Peinires de la Vie\u003C/u\u003E. Paris, 1888.\u003Cbr /\u003E\u003Cbr /\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cu\u003ESource:\u003C/u\u003E\u003C/strong\u003E Entry on the artist in the \u003Ca href=\u0022http://7.1911encyclopedia.org/C/CO/COURBET_GUSTAVE.htm\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E1911 Edition Encyclopedia\u003C/a\u003E.\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C/p\u003E\r\n\u003C/li\u003E\r\n\u003C/ul\u003E","Awards":null,"HasAlbums":true,"HasPortraits":true,"HasRelationships":true,"HasArticles":false,"HasDepictedPlaces":true,"HasLetters":false,"HasLibraryItems":false,"HasProducts":true,"HasSignatures":false,"HasVideos":false,"HasMapLocations":true,"TotalArtworks":149}