Frontispiece for the Album "Voyage en Bateau"
Medium
Graphite on tracing paper
Dimensions
Sheet: 8 3/4 × 6 1/4 in. (22.3 × 15.8 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund and PECO Foundation Gift, 2018
Accession Number
2018.11.1
Art Historical Context
Charles-François Daubigny, leading figure in the Barbizon school of landscape painting, created this delicate *Frontispiece for the Album "age en Bateau"* 1862. As a frontispiece, it as the introductory image for an album likely documenting a boating journey, reflecting Daubigny's lifelong fascination with rivers, boats, and the serene French countryside. His works often captured the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere on water, bridging Romanticism and the emerging Impressionist movement. Rendered in graphite on tracing paper—a thin, translucent medium ideal for preliminary sketches and...
About the Artist
Charles-François Daubigny · 1817–1878
Charles-François Daubigny was born on February 15, 1817, in Paris into a family of artists, with his father, Edmé-François Daubigny, a classical landscape painter, and his uncle, Pierre Daubigny, a miniaturist, providing his initial artistic training. He further studied under Jean-Victor Bertin, Jacques Raymond Brascassat, and Paul Delaroche at the École des Beaux-Arts, though he quickly moved bey...