Marcellin Gilbert Desboutin ( Cérilly 26 August 1823 – 18 February 1902

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

) was a French painter,

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proce ...

, and writer. Desboutin always signed himself ''Baron de Rochefort.''

Biography

Desboutin was born in

Cérilly, Allier Cérilly () is a commune in the Allier department in central France. It is in close proximity to the largest and oldest untouched oak forest in western Europe: the Forest of Tronçais. Many oak trees exceed 250 years in age. The Troncais (pro ...

on 26 August 1823. His parents were Barthélémy Desboutin, a bodyguard of

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...

, and Baroness Anne-Sophie de Rochefort-Dalie Farges. He studied at the

Collège Stanislas de Paris The Collège Stanislas de Paris (), colloquially known as Stan, is a highly selective private Catholic school in Paris, situated on " Rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs" in the 6th arrondissement. It has more than 3,000 students, from preschool to '' clas ...

and began studying law while writing dramatic works. In 1845, he joined the studio of sculptor Louis-Jules Etex at the

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level arts education and training. This is classical and historical School of Fine Arts in France. The art school, which is part of the Paris Science ...

in Paris, then he studied painting for two years under

Thomas Couture Thomas Couture (21 December 1815 – 30 March 1879) was a French history painter and teacher. He taught such later luminaries of the art world as Édouard Manet, Henri Fantin-Latour, John La Farge,Wilkinson, Burke. ''The Life and Works of A ...

. He then traveled in Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy. In 1857, he acquired a large property near

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, the ''Ombrellino'', where he led a lavish lifestyle and became friends with

Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is es ...

. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71 interrupted the performances at the Théâtre Français of ''Maurice de Saxe'', a play he had written in collaboration with Jules Amigues. In 1873 at the age of 50, ruined by speculations, Desboutin moved to Paris, where he and Degas frequently met—often joined by

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. Born ...

—at the

Café Guerbois Café Guerbois, on Avenue de Clichy in Paris, was the site of late 19th-century discussions and planning amongst artists, writers and art lovers – the '' bohèmes'' (bohemians), in contrast to the ''bourgeois''. Centered on Édouard Ma ...

and the café

Nouvelle Athènes Nouvelle is a French word, the feminine form of "new". It may refer to: ;Places * Nouvelle, Quebec, a municipality in Quebec, Canada * Nouvelle-Église, a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department, France * Port-la-Nouvelle, a commune in the Aude depa ...

. At Manet's home he met

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...

. To make his living, he studied engraving and began a series of

drypoint Drypoint is a printmaking technique of the intaglio (printmaking), intaglio family, in which an image is incised into a plate (or "matrix") with a hard-pointed "needle" of sharp metal or diamond point. In principle, the method is practically ident ...

sketches while showing his paintings in exhibitions. He participated in the second exhibition of the

Impressionists Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

with six paintings, including ''Street Singer'' and ''The Cellist''. He made many portraits of his friends including Edgar Degas, Auguste Renoir,

Berthe Morisot Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot (; January 14, 1841 – March 2, 1895) was a French painter and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists. In 1864, Morisot exhibited for the first time in the highly es ...

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (14 December 1824 – 24 October 1898) was a French people, French Painting, painter known for his mural painting, who came to be known as "the painter for France". He became the co-founder and president of the Soci ...

Eugène Labiche Eugene is a common male given name that comes from the Greek εὐγενής (''eugenēs''), "noble", literally "well-born", from εὖ (''eu''), "well" and γένος (''genos''), "race, stock, kin".Nina de Villard Anne-Marie Gaillard (12 July 1843 – 22 July 1884, in a clinic at Vanves), known as Nina de Villard de Callias, Nina de Callias or Nina de Villard, was a French composer, pianist, writer, and salon hostess. The daughter of a rich Lyon lawyer, aft ...

Erik Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (, ; ; 17 May 18661 July 1925), who signed his name Erik Satie after 1884, was a French composer and pianist. He was the son of a French father and a British mother. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, but was an und ...

Joséphin Péladan Joséphin Péladan (28 March 1858 in Lyon – 27 June 1918 in Neuilly-sur-Seine) was a French novelist and Martinist. His father was a journalist who had written on prophecies, and professed a philosophic-occult Catholicism. He established the ...

Edmond Edmond is a given name related to Edmund. Persons named Edmond include: * Edmond Canaple (1797–1876), French politician * Edmond Chehade (born 1993), Lebanese footballer * Edmond Conn (1914–1998), American farmer, businessman, and politician ...

and

Jules de Goncourt Jules Alfred Huot de Goncourt (; 17 December 183020 June 1870) was a French writer, who published books together with his brother Edmond. Jules was born and died in Paris. His death at the age of 39 was at Auteuil-Neuilly-Passy of a stroke br ...

. In 1880, longing for the sun drove him to move to Nice, where he remained until 1888. With the discovery, in a villa in Grasse, of five compositions by Fragonard, Desboutin made five wonderful interpretive drypoints: ''Surprise'', ''Rendezvous'', ''Confidence'', ''the Lover Crowned'' and ''Abandoned''. Back in Paris, he helped found the Second National Society of Fine Arts and celebrated his appointment in the order of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

on 8 June 1895 with two hundred guests presided over by Puvis de Chavannes, in one of his favorite restaurants of Montmartre, giving the toast, "Gentlemen, drink to Manet in painting, in

Chabrier Alexis-Emmanuel Chabrier (; 18 January 184113 September 1894) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and pianist. His Bourgeoisie, bourgeois family did not approve of a musical career for him, and he studied law in Paris and then worked ...

music, Villiers and Duranty in literature!""Banquet Desboutin", in ''La Plume'', no. 148, 15 June 1895, pp. 286-87 He returned to Nice in 1896 and worked there until his death there in 1902.As a writer, Desboutin, besides ''Maurice of Saxony'', is the author of a translation of Byron's ''Don Juan'' and of a drama performed in the late 1880s, ''Madame Roland''. Desboutin himself posed for Manet, Renoir and Degas. He is depicted in Degas' famous 1876 painting ''

L'Absinthe ''L'Absinthe'' (English: ''The Absinthe Drinker'' or ''Glass of Absinthe'') is a painting by Edgar Degas, painted between 1875 and 1876. Its original title was ''Dans un Café'', a name often used today. Other early titles were ''A sketch of a F ...

''. Two of his sons, André Mycho (1870–1937) and Tchiquine (1878–1951) were also artists. Marcellin Desboutin graphite self portrait with hat and pipe

Three portraits

Image:Marcellin Desboutin Portrait Paul Durand-Ruel.jpeg,

Paul Durand-Ruel Paul Durand-Ruel (31 October 1831, Paris – 5 February 1922, Paris) was a French art dealer associated with the Impressionists and the Barbizon School. Being the first to support artists such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste ...

(1882) Image:Eugene Labiche par Desboutin.jpg,

Eugène Labiche Eugene is a common male given name that comes from the Greek εὐγενής (''eugenēs''), "noble", literally "well-born", from εὖ (''eu''), "well" and γένος (''genos''), "race, stock, kin".Musée de Cambrai. * ''Portrait de l'artiste (autoportrait)'', 1823, oil on canvas, 46 x 38 cm, Paris, Musée d'Orsay. * ''La Voiture d'enfant'', 1829, oil on canvas, 127 x 93 cm,

Musée Fabre The Musée Fabre is a museum in the southern French city of Montpellier, capital of the Hérault ''département''. The museum was founded by François-Xavier Fabre, a Montpellier painter, in 1825. Beginning in 2003, the museum underwent a 61.2 m ...

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

. * ''Enfant et Polichinelle'', 1882, oil on canvas, 34 x 21 cm, Musée d'Art moderne de Liège. * ''Tête de fillette'', 1882, oil on canvas, 33 x 25 cm, Musée d'Art moderne de Liège. * ''Portrait de l'artiste (autoportrait)'', 1886, oil on canvas, 32,5 x 24 cm, Musée Jules Chéret, Nice. * ''L'Italienne (portrait de Madame Noverra)'', oil on canvas, 24,5 x 19 cm,

Musée départemental de l'Oise The ''Musée départemental de l'Oise'' (MUDO, Museum of the Oise Department) is a museum in the former bishop's palace in Beauvais, Oise, in northern France. It is classified as a historical monument. Building history The museum is housed in th ...

Beauvais Beauvais ( , ; pcd, Bieuvais) is a city and commune in northern France, and prefecture of the Oise département, in the Hauts-de-France region, north of Paris. The commune of Beauvais had a population of 56,020 , making it the most populous ...

. * ''Portrait de Madame Cornereau'', oil on canvas, 46 x 38 cm,

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art ...

, Paris. * ''Portrait du Sâr Mérodack Joséphin Péladan'', 1891, oil on canvas, 121 x 81 cm,

Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Angers The Musée des beaux-arts d'Angers is a museum of art located in a mansion, the "logis Barrault", place Saint-Éloi near the historic city of Angers. Building The museum is part of the Toussaint complex, which includes the garden of Fine Arts, ...

. * ''Portrait de Joseph Ravel, père de

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

'', 1892, oil on canvas, Le Belvédère, Montfort-l'Amaury.

Publications

*''Chansons et chansonnettes'' (1852) *''Maurice de Saxe'', drama in 5 acts, in verse, with Jules Amigues, Paris, Théâtre-Français, 2 June 1870 *''Versailles'', poème (1872)

Bibliography

Noël Clément-Janin Hilaire Noël Sébastien Clément, known as Clément-Janin (1862–1947) was a French writer and art critic, specializing in the modern history of printmaking. Biography His father, Michel-Hilaire Clément (1831–1885), was the author of sever ...

, ''La Curieuse Vie de Marcellin Desboutin, peintre, graveur, poète'', H. Floury, Paris, 1922 *Bernard Duplaix, "Marcellin Desboutin Prince des Bohèmes", Les Imprimeries Réunies, Moulins-Yzeure 1985

References

External links

Marcellin Desboutin au Musée d'Orsay

Bibliothèque numérique de l'INHA - Estampes de Marcellin Desboutin''Degas: The Artist's Mind''
exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art fully available online as PDF, which contains material on Marcellin Desboutin (see index) {{DEFAULTSORT:Desboutin, Marcellin People from Allier 1823 births 1902 deaths 19th-century French painters 19th-century French engravers French male painters French portrait painters Collège Stanislas de Paris alumni Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur 19th-century French male artists