Biographies

Henri-Joseph Harpignies (1819 – 1916) Born at Valenciennes, Harpignies quit being a salesman and was well into his twenties when he began studying art with the landscape painter Jean Alexis Achard, who sent him to look at the work of the northern painters.. Later he went south to Italy. Influenced by both and , he is himself considered an important influence on the Barbizon School of painters.. He ended his long life in Saint-Pierre (Yonne). Poussin Corot The Aberdeen Art Gallery offers these useful remarks on Harpignies: A painting by Harpignies was rejected from the Paris Salon in 1863. He travelled to Italy that year and again in 1865 and the influence of Italian landscape painting – especially the idyllic, panoramic landscapes of Claude and Poussin – is very noticeable in his work. Returning to France he found favour with the art establishment, winning medals at the Salon in 1866,1868 and 1869. In 1875 he was awarded the Legion d’Honeur. The poetic charm of his work is marked and the artists of the Barbizon School–including and –were greatly influenced by his paintings. In his old age failing eyesight forced him to generalise his manner, so that his landscapes became less accurate depictions of a particular area of France and more visionary and ethereal. Rousseau Daubigny