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Henri Fantin-Latour | Symbolist painter


Henri Fantin-Latour, in full Ignace-Henri-Jean-Théodore Fantin-Latour, (born Jan. 14, 1836, Grenoble, France-died Aug. 25, 1904, Buré), French painter, printmaker and illustrator noted for his still lifes with flowers and his portraits, especially group compositions, of contemporary French celebrities in the arts.
Fantin-Latour’s first teacher was his father, a well-known portrait painter.
Later, he studied at the school of Lecoq de Boisbaudran and attended the École des Beaux-Arts.


He exhibited at the official French Salons, but in 1863 he also showed his work in the rebel Salon des Refusés.

Although academic in manner, Fantin-Latour was independent in style.
He had numerous friends among the leading French painters of his day, including J.-A.-D. Ingres, Eugène Delacroix, Camille Corot, Édouard Manet, and Gustave Courbet.
His portrait groups, often arranged in rows of heads and figures like 17th-century Dutch guild portraits, are perhaps most interesting for their portrayal of various literary and artistic persons of the time.

Fantin-Latour’s flower paintings were particularly appreciated in England, where, through James McNeill Whistler and Sir John Everett Millais, Fantin-Latour found a patron in Edwin Edwards.
A wealthy amateur engraver, he supported Fantin-Latour for years by purchasing his still lifes.


The last period of Fantin-Latour’s life was primarily devoted to lithography.

In the Salon of 1876 he exhibited L’Anniversaire, honouring composer Hector Berlioz, and thereafter his lithographs were shown regularly.
Most characteristic were his delicate portraits and imaginative drawings illustrative of the music of Richard Wagner, Berlioz and others.
He also illustrated Adolphe Jullien’s biographies of Wagner (1886) and Berlioz (1888). | © Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.






















The Nymphs | Henri Fantin-Latour 1836-1904 | French Symbolist painter


The Nymphs | Henri Fantin-Latour 1836-1904 | French Symbolist painter

The Nymphs | Henri Fantin-Latour 1836-1904 | French Symbolist painter

The Nymphs | Henri Fantin-Latour 1836-1904 | French Symbolist painter

The Nymphs | Henri Fantin-Latour 1836-1904 | French Symbolist painter

The Nymphs | Henri Fantin-Latour 1836-1904 | French Symbolist painter

The Nymphs | Henri Fantin-Latour 1836-1904 | French Symbolist painter

The Nymphs | Henri Fantin-Latour 1836-1904 | French Symbolist painter

The Nymphs | Henri Fantin-Latour 1836-1904 | French Symbolist painter





Fantin-Latour ‹fãtẽ´ latùur›, Henri - Pittore francese (Grenoble 1836 - Buré, Orne, 1906).
Fu per qualche tempo, a Parigi, nello studio di G. Courbet; ma soprattutto si formò copiando al Louvre i maestri dei secc. 16º e 17º.


Ammirò Manet e gli impressionisti, ma non fece mai parte del loro gruppo. Fu amico di J. Whistler, del quale condivise lo spirito di fine psicologismo che pervade le sue opere.
Tra i suoi dipinti più noti, conservati al museo d'Orsay a Parigi: Omaggio a Delacroix (1864), Studio a Batignolles (1870), Angolo di tavola (1872), Intorno al pianoforte (1885), ritratti di gruppo di pittori, poeti, musicisti, in cui, come nei numerosi ritratti individuali, la personalità del modello è interpretata con profonda intimità.
Una sensibile osservazione della realtà si ritrova anche nelle nature morte, mentre un mondo irreale traspare da alcuni dipinti (La notte, 1897, Parigi, museo d'Orsay) ed in numerose litografie ispirate dalla sua passione per la musica di Schumann, Wagner e Berlioz. | © Treccani