Artists

Antoine Chintreuil

French, 1816-1873

Antoine Chintreuil was born in Pont-de-Vaux, Ain, 15 May 1814 and died Septeuil, Seine-et-Oise, 8 Aug 1873. He grew up in Bresse and in 1838 moved to Paris, where in 1842 he joined the studio of Paul Delaroche. Through the landscape painter Léopold Desbrosses, in about 1843 Chintreuil met Corot, who became his true teacher and encouraged his inclination towards landscape painting. He was Corot’s best student but at the same time had his own personal style. He entered the Salon in Paris in 1847 where he received many medals and awards for his works. Following Corot’s advice Chintreuil began to paint en plein air.

During the early part of his career the art critic Champfleury and the songwriter Pierre-Jean de Béranger befriended Chintreuil and gave him great support. Béranger helped him financially by buying some of his paintings and persuading the French government to purchase others, such as Pool with Apple Trees (exhibition Salon 1850; Montpellier, Museum Fabre). In 1863 he was at the head of an artist movement called “Le Salon des Rufuses”. He was an avant-gard to the impressionist movement.  One year after his death there was a special exhibition, a retrospect of his works at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. His works are scarce and are sought after by collectors.

Museums: Paris Louvre; Musee D’Orsay; Amiens; Angers; Arras; Dijon; Douai; Lille; Reims; Troyes; Boston; Cleveland; London

Reference:

Dictionnaire des Petits Maitres de la Peinture 1820-1920, by Gerald Schurr & Pierre Cabanne, pg. 266, Tome I, A a H