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Henri Fantin-Latour c1900 silver print Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Henri Fantin-Latour (1836 – 1904) was born Ignace Henri Jean Théodore Fantin-Latour in Grenoble, France in 1836. A painter and lithographer, he is best known for his flower paintings, but he produced many other kinds of work, including several group portraits that are important historical documents and show his friendship with leading avant-garde artists and writers. Homage to Delacroix (1864) shows Fantin-Latour himself, with Baudelaire, Manet, Whistler and others grouped around a portrait of Delacroix. A Studio in Batignolles (1870) shows Monet, Renoir and others in Manet’s studio. |
In spite of his association with such progressive artists, Fantin-Latour was essentially a traditionalist. Much of his later career was devoted to lithography; he greatly admired Richard Wagner and did imaginative lithographs illustrating his music and that of other composers. His wife Victoria Dubourg (1840-1926) was also a painter, mainly of flower pieces.
As a youth Fantin-Latour had received drawing lessons from his father, who was an artist. In 1850 he entered the Ecole de Dessin in Paris, where he spent much time studying and copying old masters.
Whistler brought attention to Fantin-Latour in England, where his still-lifes sold so well that they were practically unknown in France during his lifetime. He married Victoria Dubourg in 1875, after which he spent his summers on the country estate of her family at Buré, Orne, in lower Normandy, where he died in August 1904.
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Henri Fantin-Latour's atelier Palace of Fine Arts, Lille, France photo © RMN - Stéphane Maréchalle |
This is part 1 of a 13-part series on the works of Henri Fantin-Latour:
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1849 The Temptation of St. Anthony oil on canvas 19 x 25 cm Musée d'art et archéologie de Guéret, France |
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1853 Self-Portrait at Seventeen oil on canvas |
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1853 Self-Portrait at Seventeen lithograph 15.6 x 12.6 cm (image) National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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1854 Female Head charcoal with white highlights 31 x 24.5 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris ©RMN |
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1854 The Crucifixion (after Paolo Veronese - see below) oil on canvas 22.5 x 22.5 cm Museums Sheffield, UK |
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1582c Paolo Veronese "Crucifixion" oil on canvas 102 x 102 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris |
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1854 The Dream oil on canvas 45 x 55 cm Grenoble Museum, France |
The Embroiderers (various dates):
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1855 Les brodeuses (The Embroiderers pencil with white highlights on grey paper 19 x 40 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris © RMN |
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1895 The Embroiderers lithograph 20.1 x 32 cm (image) Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
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n.d. Embroiderers before a Window oil on paper (b & w photograph) 21.3 x 32.4 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
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n.d. Two Women Sitting Either Side of an Embroidery 22.6 x 29.1 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris ©RMN |
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1898 Les Brodeuses lithograph on chine colleé 16.5 x 21.1 cm National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia |
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1860 Female Embroidering on a Loom pencil 18.4 x 15 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris ©RMN |
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1881 La Brodeuse black stone 13.2 x 10.3 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris © RMN |
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1855 Female Head charcoal 14.6 x 12.6 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris ©RMN |
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1855-1900 Young Woman Under a Tree at Sunset, Named Autumn oil on canvas 38 x 21 cm Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam |
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1856 Portrait of Mlle Nathalie Fantin black pencil on blue vellum 34.5 x 29 cm |
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1856 Portrait of the Artist Alphonse Legros oil on linen 26.6 x 22.8 cm Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minnesota |
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1857 Bowl of Fruit oil on canvas |
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1857 Self-Portrait black chalk with charcoal and stumping on blue laid paper 36.5 x 31.2 cm Art Institute of Chicago, IL |
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1858 Self-Portrait oil on canvas 40.7 x 32.7 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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1858 Still Life with Kettle oil on wood 19.6 x 24.4 cm |
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1858c Portrait of Alphonse Legros oil on canvas Private Collection |
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1858c Self-Portrait oil on canvas 25.4 x 20 cm The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
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1859 Mademoiselle Marie Fantin-Latour oil on canvas 85.5 x 60.5 cm Birmingham Museums Trust, UK |
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1897 Reading: Portrait of the Artist's Sister lithograph 16 x 12.7 cm (image) Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio |
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n.d. Woman Sitting, Half-Length, Reading charcoal on tracing paper 17.7 x 14.4 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris ©RMN |
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1859 Self-Portrait graphite on paper 14.4 x 10.9 cm Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK |
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1859 Self-Portrait oil on canvas 101 x 83.5 cm Museum of Grenoble, France |
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1859 The Two Sisters oil on canvas 98.5 x 130.5 cm Saint Louis Art Museum, MO |
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1859 The Two Sisters pencil, pen and brown ink and brown wash on tracing paper 20.5 x 26.9 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris ©RMN |
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1860 Bouquet of Flowers oil on canvas 40.5 x 32 cm Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia |
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1860 Cyclamens oil on canvas Private Collection |
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1860 Peach and White Grapes oil on canvas 16 x 27.3 cm Private Collection |
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1860 Self-Portrait charcoal 18.2 x 14.3 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris ©RMN |
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1860 Self-Portrait oil on canvas 31.4 x 25.4 cm Tate, London |
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1860 Still Life with Mustard Pot oil on canvas 26 x 40 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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1860-70 The Model oil on canvas 29.1 x 21.9 cm Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery Trust, Carlisle, UK |
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1861 A Plate of Apples oil on canvas 21 x 26.4 cm Tate, London |
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1861 Autumn Flowers oil on canvas Private Collection |
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1861 Chaise à la Fenêtre oil on canvas 27 x 22.3 cm Toulouse Fondation Bemberg, France |
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1861 Dahlias, Queens Daisies, Roses and Corn Flowers oil on canvas Private Collection |
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1861 Flowers oil on canvas 47 x 48.9 cm Private Collection |
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1861 Self Portrait black pencil on grey-blue paper37.5 x 31 cm |
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1861 Self-Portrait oil on canvas 25.1 x 21.4 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
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1861 Self-Portrait oil on canvas 35.6 x 28.9 cm Fondation Bemberg, Toulouse, France |
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1861 Still Life: Pears oil on panel 23.5 x 36 cm Private Collection |
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1861 Woman Reading (Marie Fantain-Latour) oil on canvas 100 x 83 cm Musée d'Orsay, Paris |
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n.d. Woman in Bust, Reading charcoal 35.8 x 32 cm Musée d'Orsay, Paris photo © RMN (Musée d'Orsay) |
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1861c Self-Portrait oil on canvas Private Collection |
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1861c Still Life: Glass, Silver Goblet and Cup oil on canvas 35 x 47 cm Private Collection |
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1862 Camelias and Tulips oil on canvas Private Collection |
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1862 Flowers oil on canvas 45 x 37.2 cm Private Collection |
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1862 Flowers oil on canvas 49 x 40 cm Private Collection |
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1862 Narcissus and Tulips oil on canvas Private Collection |
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1862 Nude Woman and Cupid pencil 30.7 x 21.1 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris ©RMN |
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1862 Plate of Peaches oil on canvas 18.1 x 32 cm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA |
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1862 Still Life of Four Peaches oil on canvas Private Collection |
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1862 Still LIfe with Chrysanthemums oil on canvas 46 x 55.6 cm Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA |
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1862 Still Life with Flowers oil on canvas 46.4 x 38.7 cm Private Collection |