DOI Heft:
No. 60 (February, 1902)
DOI Artikel:Proust, Antonin: The art of Fantin Latour
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22772#0294
The Art of Fantin Latour
libres have been superseded by the official estab-
lishments, the result being that all emulation has
ceased, and every year, no matter how great the
merit of the appointed professors, the competi-
tions for the “ Prix de Rome ” reveal the same
disheartening banality, the same intolerable uni-
formity in the students’ work. One guesses that
such and such a picture comes from the studio
of M. Gustave Moreau, of M. Bonnat, of
M. Gerome, or of M. Barrias; but what one
sees quite plainly is that all these things are simply
based on superficial formulae, and that the young
men who gain the Prix de Rome have but one
desire, namely, to get back from the Eternal City
with all speed, in order to bask once more under
the sky of Paris.
Fantin Latour was advised in 1857 to study
under Courbet, and he tells the story of this
little escapade with charming humour : “When we
arrived,” says he, “the painter, addressing us
in his drawling but somewhat emphatic tones,
remarked, ‘ Mes enfants, I am surrounded here not
by pupils, but by collaborators.’ For my own
part,” adds Fantin, “ I was at that time, and still
am, immensely impressed by Ingres, who even
now is perhaps not sufficiently honoured. I did
not stay long with Courbet, nor, by the way, did
he keep his ‘studio of collaborators’ any great
length of time. I found a modest dwelling at
No. 13, Rue de Londres, after having stayed a
considerable time with my father in the Rue du
Dragon, and having made my first journey to
England in 1859. I have never been to Italy,
always feeling more drawn towards the North.”
Let me remark en passant, that the last picture
exhibited by Fantin Latour’s father was a Christ
upon the Cross, which appeared in the Salon of
1866. I cannot discover that his work, which was
largely reminiscent of others, ever had any influence
on the son’s genius.
It is constantly said and written that what is
known as the “Romantic” movement of 1830
was a protest against the rhetorical style prevailing
at the commencement of the century; that the
0. Scholderer
M a? Let
Renoir
Z. Artruc
Zola E. Maitre
Bazille
Monet
UN ATELIER AUX BATIGNOLLES ”
BY
FANTIN
LATOUR
232
(In the Musee du Luxembourg)
libres have been superseded by the official estab-
lishments, the result being that all emulation has
ceased, and every year, no matter how great the
merit of the appointed professors, the competi-
tions for the “ Prix de Rome ” reveal the same
disheartening banality, the same intolerable uni-
formity in the students’ work. One guesses that
such and such a picture comes from the studio
of M. Gustave Moreau, of M. Bonnat, of
M. Gerome, or of M. Barrias; but what one
sees quite plainly is that all these things are simply
based on superficial formulae, and that the young
men who gain the Prix de Rome have but one
desire, namely, to get back from the Eternal City
with all speed, in order to bask once more under
the sky of Paris.
Fantin Latour was advised in 1857 to study
under Courbet, and he tells the story of this
little escapade with charming humour : “When we
arrived,” says he, “the painter, addressing us
in his drawling but somewhat emphatic tones,
remarked, ‘ Mes enfants, I am surrounded here not
by pupils, but by collaborators.’ For my own
part,” adds Fantin, “ I was at that time, and still
am, immensely impressed by Ingres, who even
now is perhaps not sufficiently honoured. I did
not stay long with Courbet, nor, by the way, did
he keep his ‘studio of collaborators’ any great
length of time. I found a modest dwelling at
No. 13, Rue de Londres, after having stayed a
considerable time with my father in the Rue du
Dragon, and having made my first journey to
England in 1859. I have never been to Italy,
always feeling more drawn towards the North.”
Let me remark en passant, that the last picture
exhibited by Fantin Latour’s father was a Christ
upon the Cross, which appeared in the Salon of
1866. I cannot discover that his work, which was
largely reminiscent of others, ever had any influence
on the son’s genius.
It is constantly said and written that what is
known as the “Romantic” movement of 1830
was a protest against the rhetorical style prevailing
at the commencement of the century; that the
0. Scholderer
M a? Let
Renoir
Z. Artruc
Zola E. Maitre
Bazille
Monet
UN ATELIER AUX BATIGNOLLES ”
BY
FANTIN
LATOUR
232
(In the Musee du Luxembourg)