NARCISSE DIAZ AND THE BARBIZONS

A Forest Scene

NARCISSE DIAZ AND THE BARBIZONS

by Joan K. Yanni

A quick look at either of his paintings in the 19^th-century gallery will tell you that Narcisse Diaz (de la Pena) was a Barbizon painter. The Forest of Fontainebleau (51.41) shows the interior of a dense forest, with a small stream.  A patch of bright sky breaks through the trees at the left center of the picture, its light falling on the tree trunks.  A peasant woman carrying a large bundle comes through the trees.  In the smaller A Forest Scene (55.7), dense foliage again fills the picture, with only a small clearing in the center where the figure of a woman can barely be seen.  The colors are earth tones and dark greens; the brush strokes are rough and painterly.

Diaz (1807-1876) was the son of Spanish parents who had moved to France, probably for political reasons.  They died when he was quite young, and he was taken in by a pastor living near Paris.  At 15 he began working first as a printer, then as a decorator in Arsene Gillet's porcelain factory.  Here he met Gillet's nephew, Jules Dupré, and was introduced to painting.  He is thought to have taken lessons from Lille artist François Souchon, and he undoubtedly copied works by Prud'hon and Corregio in the Louvre and later used their figures in his paintings.  He was also influenced by Delacroix and the Romantics, and early in his career painted some Orientalist scenes.

Diaz entered four landscapes in the Salon in 1831, but they were rejected.  He did, however, have a painting shown in a supplement to the Salon catalogue.  In 1834 his work was accepted by the Salon, and the critic Gabriel Laviron named him among the new artists worthy of note.  In subsequent exhibitions his sources included mythology and literature, with landscapes used as backgrounds for narrative paintings.

Around 1835 he began to paint regularly in the Forest of Fontainebleau, near Barbizon, though he did not live there throughout the year as some of his friends did.  In his representations of nature he used the somber tones of Dutch 17^th-century landscapes, combining them with chiaroscuro effects of light filtering though the trees.  Minutely detailed studies were probably painted on the spot, then used as guides to finishing paintings in his studio.  The fact that he often used the formula of trees surrounding a glen with a brilliant light in the center suggests that he painted from memory or sketches as well as on site.

Financial and popular successes were important for Diaz, and they arrived early.  By 1845, perhaps because he painted subjects that the 19th-century public liked, he hadactive  followers and  numerous commissions.   He still painted part of the time at Fontainebleau, however, and through his financial success was able to help his needy friends.  Theodore Rousseau, Constant Troyon and Jean-François Millet all benefited from his popularity.

In 1848 he was awarded a first-class medal at the Salon; in 1849 he was elected a member of the jury; and in 1851 he received the Legion d'honneur.  He remained a popular if not always a critical success, regarded as a master landscapist who understood the lure of nature. 

THE BARBIZON SCHOOL included an informal group of painters associated with the Forest of Fontainebleau, near Paris, and especially with the village of Barbizon.  They were a recognizable school from the early 1830s to the 1870s.  The main members of the group were Diaz, Dupré, Rousseau, Troyon and Millet.

Though mainly concerned with landscape, they presented the lyrical, pristine side of nature rather than the classical themes of Claude Lorraine and Nicholas Poussin.  The typical Barbizon work is humble and unpretentious, a realistic landscape or peasant scene.  At times the style and composition of the Barbizon artists is so close that it would be easy to confuse the authorship of the paintings. 

Today the best known, and least typical, of' the Barbizon school is Millet, who arrived late but became a permanent member of the group.  He concentrated on peasant life and labor, and painted scenes that glorified the humble country folk.  Charles-François Daubigny is considered one of the group, though he often painted the Oise River rather then Fontainebleau.  Camille Corot is described as related to the Barbizon school, but his works are mainly in the classical tradition, with interest in architecture.  Works by Daubigny (NearAndressy, 78.7), Rousseau (Wooded Landscape, 39.14),  Corot (Clearing in the Woods, 38.8) and Dupré (The Fisherman, 59.90) are on view in MAG's yellow 19th-century room.

Because their work did not change drastically over the years, the Barbizons have been treated as merely a bridge between classical landscape painting of the late 18^th century and the Impressionists.  However, they were the first French landscape painters to focus on the lyrical appreciation of nature, romantic in their outlook and use of a free, painterly technique.  Their legacy is plein-air painting, which was adopted by the Impressionists.  The American Hudson River School was also influenced by their subject and method.