Marc Louis Benjamin Vautier (27 April 1829 – 25 April 1898) was a Swiss

genre painter Genre painting (or petit genre), a form of genre art, depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity can be attached ...

and illustrator.

Life and work

He was born in

Morges Morges (; la, Morgiis, plural, probably ablative, else dative; frp, Môrges) is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud and the seat of the district of Morges. It is located on Lake Geneva. History Morges is first mentioned in 1288 as ' ...

. He was the son of a teacher and began his art studies in Geneva, then worked for two years as a jewelry enamel painter. In 1849, he obtained a position in the studios of history painter Jean-Léonard Lugardon. While there, he also took courses in anatomical drawing at a nearby art school. The following year, he began attending the

Kunstakademie Düsseldorf The Kunstakademie Düsseldorf is the academy of fine arts of the state of North Rhine Westphalia at the city of Düsseldorf, Germany. Notable artists who studied or taught at the academy include Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Magdalena Jetelová, ...

and became a member of "

Malkasten Malkasten (English: "Paintbox") is a progressive German artists' association, founded in Düsseldorf in 1848, during the March Revolution. Since 1867, their headquarters have been in the Pempelfort district. History During the unrest in 1848, ...

" (Paintbox), a local artists' association. He left the Academy for one year to work with Rudolf Jordan as a private student. Eventually, he decided to devote himself to depicting peasant life, which he observed for several years by visiting the

Bernese Oberland The Bernese Oberland ( en, Bernese Highlands, german: Berner Oberland; gsw, Bärner Oberland; french: Oberland bernois), the highest and southernmost part of the canton of Bern, is one of the canton's five administrative regions (in which context ...

. In 1856 he went to Paris, but returned to Düsseldorf a year later and painted his first peasant genre pictures. Initially, he focused on Switzerland, but finally decided to concentrate on the

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...

region. He also worked as an illustrator (''Der Oberhof'' by

Karl Leberecht Immermann Karl Leberecht Immermann (24 April 1796 – 25 August 1840) was a German dramatist, novelist and a poet. Biography He was born at Magdeburg, the son of a government official. In 1813 he went to study law at Halle, where he remained, after t ...

, ''Barfüßele'' by

Berthold Auerbach Berthold Auerbach (28 February 1812 – 8 February 1882) was a German-Jewish poet and author. He was the founder of the German "tendency novel", in which fiction is used as a means of influencing public opinion on social, political, moral, and r ...

, and others). Later, he became a Royal Professor at the Academy in Düsseldorf. He died in 1898 in Düsseldorf.

References

External links

Illustrations online (selection)

Digitalized by the

University and State Library Düsseldorf The University and State Library Düsseldorf (german: Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Düsseldorf, abbreviated ULB Düsseldorf) is a central service institution of Heinrich Heine University. Along with Bonn and Münster, it is also one of th ...

: * In: ''Album deutscher Kunst und Dichtung. Mit Holzschnitten nach Originalzeichnungen der Künstler, ausgeführt von R. Brend'amour.'' Friedrich Bodenstedt. - Berlin : Grote, 1867

* In: ''Aquarelle Düsseldorfer Künstler : den kunstsinnigen Damen gewidmet.'' - Düsseldorf : Arnz, 1861. English Edition: ''Aquarels of Düsseldorf artists.'' - Düsseldorf: Arnz, 1852

http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:061:2-24510] * Auerbach, Berthold. ''Barfüßele.'' - Stuttgart : Cotta, 1870

* In: ''Düsseldorfer Bilder-Mappe : Original-Zeichnungen.'' - Berlin : Grote, 1866

* In: Howitt, Mary Botham. ''The Dusseldorf artist's album.'' - Dusseldorf : Arnz, 1854

* ''Kurzweil und Zeitvertreib : Bilder aus dem Leben in 12 Bleistiftzeichnungen.'' - München : Ackermann, 1884

* In: ''Märchen und Sagen für Jung und Alt.'' - Düsseldorf : Arnz : Voß, 1857, Vol.

* Immermann, Karl. ''Der Oberhof : aus Immermann's Münchhausen.'' - Berlin : Hofmann, 1863

* In: Stieler, K./Wachenhusen, H. /Hackländer, F. W.: ''Rheinfahrt : Von den Quellen des Rheins bis zum Meere.'' - Stuttgart : Kröner, 1875

* In: Diethoff, E. ''Vom Rhein. Bilder und Geschichten aus alter und neuer Zeit.'' - Leipzig : Payne, 1871

* ''Gedichte''. Arnz, Düsseldorf 185

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vautier, Benjamin 1829 births 1898 deaths Genre painters 19th-century Swiss painters Swiss male painters 19th-century Swiss male artists