Frontispiece for an edition of "Les Ballades" by Théodore de Banville

Generally considered an important artist of the Realist tradition who influenced and was influenced by the Impressionist painters of the 1870s. He never exhibited with the Impressionists or adopted fully their ideas and procedures. His painting is famous for its painterly technique and his paintings and prints are known for new urban subject-matter. He had a short career, but his style evolved from early works characterized by dramatic light-dark contrasts and based on Spanish 17th-century painting to high-keyed, freely brushed compositions where the content was related to Symbolism.