Cicéri, Eugène

Étienne Eugène Cicéri (1813–1890) was a French painter, lithographer, and theatrical designer who became a notable figure in the Barbizon School movement. Born in Paris on January 27, 1813, into an illustrious artistic family, he was the son of renowned scenographer Pierre-Luc-Charles Cicéri and the nephew of painter Eugène Isabey, who would become his early mentor and influence. Cicéri occupies an important position in 19th-century French landscape painting as one of the first artists to settle in Bourron-Marlotte in 1849, helping establish the Fontainebleau forest region as a center for plein-air landscape painting. His significance lies in his dual role as both a Barbizon School painter and a masterful lithographer who contributed to Baron Taylor's monumental Voyages pittoresques et romantiques dans l'ancienne France, working alongside artists like Théodore Géricault and Richard Parkes Bonington. His participation in the groundbreaking 1851 Salon, which featured the first exhibition of realist painters and Barbizon School members, crowned him as an accomplished landscape painter of his generation. Cicéri began his artistic education under his father's tutelage in decorative and theatrical design, but quickly redirected his focus to landscape painting through his uncle Eugène Isabey's influence. Living in the Pigalle neighborhood of Paris, he encountered founding members of the Barbizon School including Théodore Rousseau and Jean-François Millet, which profoundly shaped his artistic direction. From 1851 onward, he exhibited paintings, gouaches, and watercolors at the Paris Salons, primarily depicting views of the Fontainebleau forest and the banks of the Seine and Marne rivers. His painting of the banks of the Loing earned him a second-class medal in 1852, and he later won a bronze medal for lithography at the 1876 Salon. His early works concentrated on Paris surroundings and Normandy before he settled permanently in the Fontainebleau region. Cicéri's distinctive style featured small-sized watercolors with shimmering skies, a characteristic inherited from his uncle Eugène Isabey. Adhering to Barbizon School principles, he depicted a peaceful rural France far removed from industrialization, breaking with his Romantic predecessors to present scenes with naturalistic realism. His work demonstrated the movement's emphasis on direct observation of nature and atmospheric effects. In 1882, he published Cours d'aquarelle, a practical guide for amateur watercolorists, sharing his technical expertise with a broader audience. While Cicéri enjoyed considerable celebrity during his lifetime, he is less well-known today than some of his Barbizon contemporaries. Nevertheless, his contribution to French landscape painting and lithography remains significant. His illustrations for the Voyages pittoresques helped document and romanticize French provincial landscapes for future generations. As an early settler of Bourron-Marlotte and active participant in the Barbizon movement, he contributed to the school's legacy of naturalist landscape painting that would influence Impressionism and modern art movements, helping introduce the Forest of Fontainebleau as an iconic subject in French art history.