Barbizon school

also: École de Barbizon

school c. 1830-1870 France Europe

The Barbizon School takes its name from the village of Barbizon on the edge of the Forest of Fontainebleau, where from the 1830s through the 1870s a circle of French painters made landscape a subject in its own right. Reacting against studio convention - and spurred by John Constable's rural scenes shown at the 1824 Salon - they sketched outdoors and brought nature, weather, and rural labor into painting with loose brushwork and soft, tonal harmony. Jean-Francois Millet extended the program to peasant figures, as in The Gleaners (1857). The school's etching revival and its plein-air habits pointed directly toward Impressionism, which younger artists like Monet and Renoir developed from the 1870s; American painters from George Inness onward absorbed its mood and touch.

Example work related to "Barbizon school".
Example work related to "Barbizon school".Public domain (credit: anonymous) · source

Defining characteristics

  • Landscape as the main subject, painted from direct study of nature
  • Loose, visible brushwork and softness of form
  • Tonal harmony and muted, atmospheric color
  • Rural subjects: forests, ponds, farmworkers, village life
  • Sketches made on the spot, finished in the studio
  • Lyrical, often melancholy mood rather than narrative drama

Key figures

  • Théodore Rousseau (1812-1867) — Leader of the Barbizon circle and painter of the Forest of Fontainebleau
  • Jean-François Millet (1814-1875) — Peasant painter of The Gleaners; lived in Barbizon from 1849
  • Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875) — Earliest of the group to paint at Fontainebleau (1829); poetic, silvery landscapes
  • Charles-François Daubigny (1817-1878) — Painter of river and pond scenes whose loose touch anticipated Impressionism

Example works

Sources

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