Eugène Isabey (July 22, 1803 – April 27, 1886) was a French painter, draftsman, and printmaker. , the son of Jean-Baptiste Isabey, a painter as well, Eugène Isabey studied and worked at the Louvre Museum. After spending his formative years in the Louvre Museum amidst the most accomplished artists of the day, Eugène Isabey initially painted mostly landscapes in watercolor. In 1820 he began to travel, first to Normandy and then to Britain, where he discovered a freer watercolor technique. On several occasions he returned to Normandy, painting seascapes and landscapes that helped to solidify his reputation as one of the leading proponents of Romantic views, both dramatic and placid. Isabey also made drawings of other scenic areas of France to illustrate travel volumes and dashed off many landscape drawings and watercolors throughout his life. In 1823 he produced some lithographs for his father’s Voyage en Italie par J.B. Isabey en 1822, and the following year spent some time painting at Le Havre. He made his debut at the Salon of 1824, exhibiting a number of seascapes and winning a first-class medal in the category of genre and marine painting. It was at about this time that he met EugËne Delacroix and Richard Parkes Bonington, both of whom were to prove influential on the young artist. From Bonington, Isabey adopted the practice of drawing his watercolours on a light or white ground, instead of the dark ground commonly used in France at the time. The three artists traveled together to England in 1825, where Isabey was able to study the work of Turner and the English watercolourists. On his return to France he settled in Normandy, where he made countless sketches and paintings of the coastal scenery. He also befriended another young artist, Paul Huet, who shared his penchant for working en plein-air. Like Huet, Isabey exhibited a number of views of Normandy at the Salon of 1827, with some success. Two years later he contributed illustrations to the Voyage pittoresque et romantiques de l’ancienne France, published by Charles Nodier, Alphonse de Cailleux and Isadore Taylor in 26 volumes between 1820 and 1863. In 1830, Isabey accompanied the French Expedition to Algiers as an illustrator. His paintings from this trip were unsuccessful on the market and encouraged him to switch to narrative and historical painting. He was also appointed to become one of Louis-Philippe’s court painters. As a painter, he made a speciality of marine views, and in 1833 his painting of a Harbour at Low Tide was purchased by the State. In later years Isabey received several official commissions and produced a number of grandiose history pictures, typified by the Return of the Ashes of Napoleon at Versailles. He never lost his interest in the watercolour medium, however, and was a founder member of the Société des Aquarellistes Français, established in 1879. His work also provides a link between the Romantic tradition and that of the pre-Impressionists; he may have come into contact with Eugène Boudin as early as 1844, while on a visit to Holland in 1846 he met Johan Barthold Jongkind, who later became his student in Paris. Among Isabey’s other pupils were Eugène Ciceri, Adolphe Hervier and Félix Ziem.
"ORDER A HANDMADE REPRODUCTION OF ANY PAINTING OF THIS ARTIST! CLICK HERE!"
"BUY POSTERS OF THESE ART WORKS!"
|
