Pasture Landscape Near A Body Of Water By Jules Dupré

High-fired ceramic decoration depicting a pasture landscape near a body of water. Circa 1835.
Tile signed on the back "pastures J. Dupré".
Unframed: Height, 11 cm, Width, 15.5 cm.
Jules Dupré (1811-1889):
Born in Nantes and died in Isle-Adam, was a pioneering French landscape painter, like Camille Corot, of the French landscape, and influenced by John Constable. He left his studio and painted outdoors from the 1830s, around Paris, Barbizon and in the Limousin region. His father, originally from Isle-Adam, ran a porcelain factory in Parmain before settling in Nantes. Jules Dupré first learned the art of ceramic decoration and admired Giricault, Le Lorrain, and Rembrandt throughout his life. In 1823, he arrived in Paris where he worked for an uncle who employed Auguste Raffet, Louis Cabat, and Narcisse Diaz de la Peña. He also met Constant Troyon, a painter at the Sèvres factory. He was then admitted to the studio of the landscape artist Diébolt and sold his first paintings in Paris. Having become friends with the landscape artist Louis Cabat, the latter persuaded him to abandon ceramics to paint genre scenes and outdoor landscapes. He studied the 17th-century Dutch painters, of whom he remained a great admirer, and in 1831, exhibited for the first time at the Salon with landscapes of Limousin. In 1832, he stayed in Berry with Cabat and exhibited four works at the 1833 Salon, where he received a second-class medal as a genre painter. He went to England in 1834 to study John Constable, the master of English landscapes, who would profoundly influence his work. At the 1835 Salon, Eugène Delacroix congratulated him on the craftsmanship of his skies. He received many artists at his home, such as Scheffer and Barye. He frequented Barbizon with Théodore Rousseau. His relationship with Rousseau was fraternal, romantic, often stormy, and almost exclusive at certain periods, and has given rise to much commentary. The mutual influence of the two men is one of the keys to the evolution of their works. Although Van Gogh probably never met Dupré during his stays in Paris, the latter showed a deep admiration for his elder throughout his life and held a very keen eye for his work. Over a period of fifteen years, some sixty references can be identified in van Gogh's correspondence, most often addressed to his brother Theo. These letters contain enthusiastic descriptions of Dupré's works. In his eyes, the painter embodied French Romanticism and frequently associated his name with that of Victor Hugo.