Eugène Fromentin (; 24 October 182027 August 1876) was a French painter and writer.

Life and career

He was born in

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department. Wi ...

. After leaving school he studied for some years under Louis Cabat, the landscape painter. Fromentin was one of the earliest pictorial interpreters of

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

, having been able, while quite young, to visit the land and people that suggested the subjects of most of his works, and to store his memory as well as his portfolio with the picturesque and characteristic details of

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

n life. His first great success was produced at the

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...

of 1847, by the ''Gorges de la Chiffa''. In 1849, he was awarded a medal of the second class. In 1852, he paid a second visit to Algeria, accompanying an archaeological mission, and then completed that minute study of the scenery of the country and of the habits of its people which enabled him to give to his after-work the realistic accuracy that comes from intimate knowledge. His books include ' ("The Masters of Past Time", 1876), an influential appreciation of

Early Netherlandish painting Early Netherlandish painting is the body of work by artists active in the Burgundian Netherlands, Burgundian and Habsburg Netherlands during the 15th- and 16th-century Northern Renaissance period, once known as the Flemish Primitives. It flour ...

and the Northern Baroque of the

Old Masters In art history, "Old Master" (or "old master")Old Masters De ...

of Belgium and Holland, ''Dominique'' and ''A Summer in the Sahara''. In ' he deals with the complexity of paintings by

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of clas ...

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

and others, their style and the artists' emotions at the time of creating their masterpieces. He is also one of the first "art critics" to approach the subject of ''The Old Masters'' from a personal point of view – being a painter himself. He also puts the work in a social, political and economic context, as the

Dutch Golden Age painting Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history roughly spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) for Dutch independence. The new Dutch Republi ...

develops shortly after Holland won its independence. Bernhard Berenson wrote of the book, "I carry Fromentin with me, and read him each evening about the pictures I have seen that he criticizes. He is the only writer on pictures worth his salt, but I do not always agree with him." Fromentin, who maintained that "art is the expression of the invisible by means of the visible", was much influenced in style by

Eugène Delacroix Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( ; ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French people, French Romanticism, Romantic artist who was regarded as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: ...

. His works are distinguished by striking composition, great dexterity of handling and brilliancy of colour. In them is given with great truth and refinement the unconscious grandeur of barbarian and animal attitudes and gestures. His later works, however, show signs of an exhausted vein and of an exhausted spirit, accompanied or caused by physical enfeeblement. But it must be observed that Fromentin's paintings show only one side of a genius that was perhaps even more felicitously expressed in literature, though with less profusion. ''Dominique'', first published in the '' Revue des deux mondes'' in 1862, and dedicated to

George Sand Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. Being more renowned than either Victor Hugo or Honoré de Balz ...

, is remarkable among the fiction of the century for delicate and imaginative observation and for emotional earnestness. Fromentin's other literary works include ''Visites artistiques'' (1852); ''Simples Pèlerinages'' (1856); ''Un été dans le Sahara'' (1857); ''Une année dans le Sahel'' (1858). In 1876 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the Academy. He died suddenly at La Rochelle on 27 August 1876.

Gallery

Eugene Fromentin - Arabian Encampment - 1949.236 - Yale University Art Gallery.jpg, ''Arabian Encampment'', 1848 Eugène Fromentin - North African Landscape - 1970.372 - Museum of Fine Arts.jpg, ''North African Landscape'', 1847 ~ 1848 Boerenerf met vee Rijksmuseum SK-A-3304.jpeg , ''Boerenerf met vee'' 'Farmyard with livestock'' 1849 Arabs Watering their Horses by Eugène Fromentin, San Diego Museum of Art.JPG, ''Arabs Watering Their Horses'', ''ca.'' 1850 Eugène Fromentin - Arab Woman - 1964.30 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tif, ''Arab woman'', 1852 Françoise Foliot - Eugène Fromentin - Enterrement maure.jpg , ''Enterrement maure'' 'Moorish burial'' 1853 Gazette des beaux-arts (1859) (14781600982).jpg , ''La rue Bab-el-Gharbi, à El-Aghouat'', 1859 Kabyle Shepherd, by Eugène Fromentin.JPG, '' Kabyle Shepherd'', 1861 E. Fromentin.Cavaliers arabes.Musée La Rochelle.jpg, ''Cavaliers arabes ou la rencontre'' 'Arab Horsemen or the Encounter'' 1862 Eugène fromentin, caccia al falcone in algeria, la corsa, 1863 (cropped).JPG , ''Chasse au faucon en la curée'' 'Falcon Hunting in Algeria: The Quarry'' 1863 Eugène Fromentin - Windstorm on the Esparto Plains of the Sahara (1864) (Sotheby's) 095l1905-b9dd9.jpg, ''Windstorm on the Esparto Plains of the Sahara'', 1864 Eugène Fromentin - Coup de vent sur les plaines d'Alfa.jpg, ''Coup de vent sur les plaines d' alfa'' Alfa''">Stipa_tenacissima.html" ;"title="'Gust of Wind on the Plains of Stipa tenacissima">Alfa'' 1864 Chasse au héron Fromentin Musée Condé.jpg">''Hunting Heron, Algeria'', 1865 Eugène Fromentin - An Encampment in the Atlas Mountains - Walters 37195.jpg, ''An Encampment in the ''Standard Bearer'', 1860 ~ 1865 Arabs on the Way to the Pastures of the Tell by Eugène Fromentin, High Museum of Art.jpg , ''Arabs on the Way to the Pastures of the Tell Atlas, Tell'', 1866 Before the Race-Fantasia or The Halt in the Desert by Eugene Fromentin.jpg, ''Before the Race – Fantasia or The Halt in the Desert'', 1867 L'Incendie .PNG, ''L'Incendie'' [''The Fire''], 1867 Eugène Fromentin - Centaures - PPP2517 - Musée des Beaux-Arts de la ville de Paris.jpg, ''Centaures'', 1868 Eugène Fromentin - Halte de cavaliers arabes dans la forêt.jpg, ''Halte de cavaliers arabes dans la forêt'' 'Arab Horsemen Resting in the Forest'' 1868 Crossing the Ford, Algeria .PNG, ''Crossing the Ford, Algeria'', 1869 Eugène Fromentin - Une fantasia. Algérie - Orsay RF 1838.jpg, ''Une Fantasia'' 'A Fantasy''– ''Algeria'', 1869 345Eugene Fromentin Les Tombeaux Des Califes Au Caire02.jpg , ''Les tombeaux des Califes au Caire'' 'The Tombs of the Caliphs in Cairo'' ''ca.'' 1870 Ejem Fromanten - Nil çayı.jpg, ''Nil çayı'' (Turkish) 'Nile Tea'' 1870 Eugène Fromentin 001.jpg, ''Arabs'', 1871 Eugène Fromentin - On the Nile, Near Philae - 1900.580 - Art Institute of Chicago.jpg, ''On the Nile, Near

Philae The Philae temple complex (; , , Egyptian: ''p3-jw-rķ' or 'pA-jw-rq''; , ) is an island-based temple complex in the reservoir of the Aswan Low Dam, downstream of the Aswan Dam and Lake Nasser, Egypt. Originally, the temple complex was ...

'', 1871 Eugène Fromentin - Orientals - 58.32 - Minneapolis Institute of Arts.jpg , ''Orientals'' 'Egyptian Females'' 1872 Fromentin - Campement dans le Sahara.jpg, ''Campement dans le

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

'' 'Campsite in the Sahara''">Sahara.html" ;"title="'Campsite in the Sahara">'Campsite in the Sahara'' 1872 Eugène Fromentin (1820-1876) - The Banks of the Nile - NG3511 - National Gallery.jpg">''The Banks of the Nile'', 1874 Fromentin--Ravine--1874--Nelson-Atkins.png, ''Un souvenir d'Algérie'' ''Cavalier peint en Algérie'' ''La caravane (scène de la vie nomade des Larbaâ Laghouat)'' [''The Caravan'' (''Scene From the Nomadic Life of the Larbaâ Laghouat'') 1875 Eugène Fromentin - At the Well - Walters 37100.jpg, ''At the Well'', 1875 Eugène Fromentin 002.jpg, ''Un Souvenir d' Esneh'' Esneh''">Esna.html" ;"title="'A memory of Esna">Esneh'' 1876 Eugène Fromentin - Le Simoun 04.jpg">''Le Simoun'' [''The Simoun'' 1876 Eugene Fromentin Horses Watering in a River.jpg">''Horses Watering in a River'', undated Bedouins watering their horses 2001 NYE 08515 0018 000(024840).jpg, ''Bedouins Watering Their Horses'', undated Eugène Fromentin - Marokkaanse ruiters aan de voet van de Chiffrarots.jpg, ''Moroccan Horsemen at the Foot of the Chiffra Cliffs'', undated Eugène Fromentin (1820-1876) - Head of an Old Woman - GR.101 - The New Art Gallery Walsall.jpg, ''Head of an Old Woman'', undated The Boar Hunt.jpg, ''The Boar Hunt'', undated Départ pour la chasse - Fromentin 001.jpg, ''Départ pour la chasse'' [''Departure for the hunt''], undated Eugene Fromentin On The Nile.jpg, ''On the Nile'', undated Arab Skirmish MET 47227.jpg, ''Arab Skirmish'', undated Eugène Fromentin Le repos des chameaux.jpg, ''Le repos des chameaux'' [''The Camels Rest''], undated

Bibliography

Notes

Inline references

* ; ; , . * Retrieved July 27, 2004. ; ; .

''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 11th ed.

* Retrieved October 15, 2024. , , , and .

* ; .

* ; , , , and (1891 & 2012 re-prints). * Retrieved October 15, 2024. , ; , ; , , , , , and .

Gazette des Beaux-Arts

Gallica.
UC Boulder.

* * ; ; (e-book).

General references: works by Eugène Fromentin in English translation

"A Critic's Program" and "A Letter to a Young Artist"
in ''Realism and Tradition in Art, 1848-1900: Sources and Documents'', edited by Linda Nochlin, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1966, pp. 19–25; reprinted from the Mary Caroline Robbins translation of Gonse (1888). *''Between Sea and Sahara: An Algerian Journal'', translation by Blake Robinson of ''Une Anée dans le Sahel'' (1859), Ohio University Press, 1999; reissued in 2004 by Tauris Parke Paperbacks with the subtitle ''An Orientalist Adventure''. * . *. Reprint by Soho Book Company (1986). *"The Isle of Ré: An Unpublished Fragment" i
''Eugène Fromentin, Painter and Writer''
by Louis Gonse, translated by Mary Caroline Robbins, Boston: James R. Osgood and Co., 1888, pp. 251–271; various other quotations, letters, and excerpts by Fromentin, translated by Robbins, appear throughout the book.
''The Masters of Past Time, or Criticism on the Old Flemish & Dutch Painters''
uncredited translation of ''Les Maîtres d'autrefois'' (1876), New York: E.P. Dutton, 1913.
''The Old Masters of Belgium and Holland''
translation by Mrs. Mary C. Robbins of ''Les Maîtres d'autrefois'' (1876), Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1882.

General references: writings about Fromentin in English

*Bales, Richard. ''Persuasion in the French Personal Novel: Studies of Chateaubriand, Constant, Balzac, Nerval, and Fromentin'', Birmingham, AL: Summa Publications, 1997. *Beaume, Georges
''Fromentin''
translated from the French by Frederic Taber Cooper, New York: Stokes, 1913. *Christin, Anne-Marie, and Berrong, Richard M
"Space and Convention in Eugène Fromentin: The Algerian Experience
, ''New Literary History'', vol. 15, no. 3, Spring, 1984, pp. 559-574. *Evans, Arthur R., Jr.. ''The Literary Art of Eugène Fromentin: A Study in Style and Motif'', Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1966.
"Eugene Fromentin"
''The Art Amateur'', vol. 12, no. 1, Dec., 1884, p. 9.
"Fromentin, Eugène"
Benezit Dictionary of Artists, published online 31 October 2011. *Gill, Hélène. "Eugene Fromentin and the Experience of the Desert: Self-quest in the Other's Territory," Chapter 3 i
''The Language of French Orientalist Painting''
Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2003. *Gillet, Louis

in ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'', New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. *Gonse, Louis
''Eugène Fromentin, Painter and Writer''
translated by Mary Caroline Robbins, Boston: James R. Osgood and Co., 1888. *Harris, Frank
"Eugéne Fromentin: The Painter-Writer"
Chapter XIV in ''Latest Contemporary Portraits'', New York: The Macaulay Company, 1927. *Hartman, Elwood. ''Three Nineteenth-Century French Writer/Artists and the Maghreb: The Literary and Artistic Depictions of North Africa by Théophile Gautier, Eugène Fromentin, and Pierre Loti'', Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag, 1994. *Kaplan, Judith. "Eugéne Fromentin (1820-1876)" in ''Orientalist Writers'', edited by Coeli Fitzpatrick and Dwayne A. Tunstall, Detroit : Gale Cengage Learning, 2012. *Magill, Frank N., editor. "''Dominique'' by Eugéne Fromentin" in ''Masterplots: 2010 Plot Stories & Essay Reviews from the World's Fine Literature'', Revised Edition, volume 3, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Salem Press, 1976. *Mickel, Emanuel J. ''Eugène Fromentin'', Twayne's World Authors Series 640, Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., 1981. *Schapiro, Meyer. "Eugene Fromentin as Critic" i
''Theory and Philosophy of Art: Style, Artist and Society, Selected Papers''
New York: George Braziller, 1994. *Thompson, James P. W
"Fromentin, Eugène(-Samuel-Auguste)"
Grove Art Online, published online 2003. *Wright, Barbara
"Eugène Fromentin's 'Portrait de Jeune Femme' and the Possible Identification of Its Sources"
''The Burlington Magazine'', vol. 116, no. 854, May, 1974, pp. 274–275. *Wright, Barbara
"A drawing for 'Hodna': an early painting by Eugène Fromentin
" ''The Burlington Magazine'', vol. 155, no. 1322, May, 2013, pp. 324-325. *Wright, Barbara. ''Eugène Fromentin: A Life in Art and Letters'', Peter Lang, 2000. *Wright, Barbara. "Eugène Fromentin (1820-76)" in ''Key Writers on Art'', volume I, edited by Chris Murray, New York: Routledge, 2003.

External links

Fromentin, Eugène
a
Dicitonary of Art Historians

''Encyclopædia Britannica''
* *
www.eugenefromentin.org
Works by Eugène Fromentin {{DEFAULTSORT:Fromentin, Eugene 19th-century French painters French male painters 1820 births 1876 deaths French male writers French Orientalist painters 19th-century French male artists People from La Rochelle