Marcellin Gilbert Desboutin ( Cérilly 26 August 1823 – 18 February 1902

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed technique ...

, and writer. Desboutin always signed himself ''Baron de Rochefort.''

Biography

Desboutin was born in

Cérilly, Allier Cérilly () is a commune in the Allier department in central France. It is in close proximity to the largest and oldest untouched oak forest in western Europe: the Forest of Tronçais. Many oak trees exceed 250 years in age. The Troncais (pr ...

on 26 August 1823. His parents were Barthélémy Desboutin, a bodyguard of

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. Before his reign, he spent 23 y ...

, and Baroness Anne-Sophie de Rochefort-Dalie Farges. He studied at the

Collège Stanislas de Paris The Collège Stanislas de Paris (), colloquially known as Stan, is a private Catholic school in Paris, situated on " Rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs" in the 6th arrondissement. It has more than 3,000 students, from preschool to '' classes préparatoir ...

and began studying law while writing dramatic works. In 1845, he joined the studio of sculptor Louis-Jules Etex at the

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in nor ...

in Paris, then he studied painting for two years under

Thomas Couture Thomas Couture (; 21 December 1815 – 30 March 1879) was a French history painter and teacher. He taught many notable contemporary figures of the art world, such as Édouard Manet, Henri Fantin-Latour, John La Farge, Pierre Puvis de Chava ...

. He then traveled in Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy. In 1857, he acquired a large property near

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, the ''Ombrellino'', where he led a lavish lifestyle and became friends with

Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints, and drawings. Degas is e ...

. The

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

of 1870–71 interrupted the performances at the Théâtre Français of ''Maurice de Saxe'', a play he had written in collaboration with Jules Amigues. In 1873 at the age of 50, ruined by speculations, Desboutin moved to Paris, where he and Degas frequently met—often joined by

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French Modernism, modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism (art movement), R ...

—at the

Café Guerbois Café Guerbois, on Avenue de Clichy in Paris, was the site of late 19th-century discussions and planning amongst artists, writers and art lovers – the '' bohèmes'' (bohemians), in contrast to the ''bourgeois''. Centered on Édouard Ma ...

and the café

Nouvelle Athènes Nouvelle is a French word, the feminine form of "new". It may refer to: ;Places * Nouvelle, Quebec, a municipality in Quebec, Canada * Nouvelle-Église, a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department, France * Port-la-Nouvelle, a commune in the Aude dep ...

. At Manet's home he met

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, ; ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of Naturalism (literature), naturalism, and an important contributor to ...

. To make his living, he studied engraving and began a series of

drypoint Drypoint is a printmaking technique of the intaglio (printmaking), intaglio family, in which an image is incised into a plate (or "matrix") with a hard-pointed "needle" of sharp metal or diamond point. In principle, the method is practically iden ...

sketches while showing his paintings in exhibitions. He participated in the second exhibition of the

Impressionists Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), ordinary subjec ...

with six paintings, including ''Street Singer'' and ''The Cellist''. He made many portraits of his friends including Edgar Degas, Auguste Renoir,

Berthe Morisot Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot (; 14 January 1841 – 2 March 1895) was a French painter, printmaker and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists. In 1864, Morisot exhibited for the first time in the ...

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (; 14 December 1824 – 24 October 1898) was a French painter known for his mural painting, who came to be known as "the painter for France". He became the co-founder and president of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Ar ...

Eugène Labiche Eugène Marin Labiche (; 6 May 181522 January 1888) was a French dramatist. He remains famous for his contribution to the vaudeville genre and his passionate and domestic pochades. In the 1860s, he reached his peak with a series of successe ...

, Nina de Villard,

Erik Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (born 17 May 18661 July 1925), better known as Erik Satie, was a French composer and pianist. The son of a French father and a British mother, he studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, Paris Conservatoire but was an undi ...

Joséphin Péladan Joséphin Péladan (28 March 1858 – 27 June 1918) was a French novelist and Rosicrucian who later briefly joined the Martinist order led by Papus (Gérard Encausse). His father was a journalist who had written on prophecies, and professed ...

, Edmond and

Jules de Goncourt Jules Alfred Huot de Goncourt (; 17 December 183020 June 1870) was a French writer, who published books together with his brother Edmond. Jules was born and died in Paris. His death at the age of 39 was at Auteuil of a stroke brought on by sy ...

. In 1880, longing for the sun drove him to move to Nice, where he remained until 1888. With the discovery, in a villa in Grasse, of five compositions by Fragonard, Desboutin made five wonderful interpretive drypoints: ''Surprise'', ''Rendezvous'', ''Confidence'', ''the Lover Crowned'' and ''Abandoned''.Back in Paris, he helped found the Second National Society of Fine Arts and celebrated his appointment in the order of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

on 8 June 1895 with two hundred guests presided over by Puvis de Chavannes, in one of his favorite restaurants of Montmartre, giving the toast, "Gentlemen, drink to Manet in painting, in Chabrier music, Villiers and Duranty in literature!""Banquet Desboutin", in ''La Plume'', no. 148, 15 June 1895, pp. 286-87 He returned to Nice in 1896 and worked there until his death there in 1902. As a writer, Desboutin, besides ''Maurice of Saxony'', is the author of a translation of Byron's ''Don Juan'' and of a drama performed in the late 1880s, ''Madame Roland''. Desboutin himself posed for Manet, Renoir and Degas. He is depicted in Degas' famous 1876 painting ''

L'Absinthe (English: ''The Absinthe Drinker'' or ''Glass of Absinthe'') is a painting by Edgar Degas, painted between 1875 and 1876. Its original title was , a name often used today. Other early titles were ''A sketch of a French Café'' and ''Figures at ...

''. Two of his sons, André Desboutin–known as Mycho—(1870–1937) and Jean Desboutin—known as Tchiquine—(1878–1951), were also artists; the latter a noted photographer. He frequently depicted them in his work.

Portraits

Image:Marcellin Desboutin Portrait Paul Durand-Ruel.jpeg,

Paul Durand-Ruel Paul Durand-Ruel (; 31 October 1831 – 5 February 1922) was a French art dealer associated with the Impressionists and the Barbizon School. Being the first to support artists such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, he ...

(1882) Image:Eugene Labiche par Desboutin.jpg,

Image:Marcellin Desboutin self-portrait 1894.jpg, Self-portrait
Lithographie (1894) Marcellin Desboutin graphite self portrait with hat and pipe

Marcellin Desboutin graphite self portrait with hat and pipe

Works

* ''Portrait de jeune fille'', 1823,

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Cambrai The Musée de Cambrai (English: Cambrai Museum), also known as the Musée des Beaux-arts de Cambrai, is the main museum in the northern French city of Cambrai. He moved in 1893 into the Hôtel de Francqueville, which dates back to 1720 and w ...

. * ''Portrait de l'artiste (autoportrait)'', 1823, oil on canvas, 46 x 38 cm, Paris, Musée d'Orsay. * ''La Voiture d'enfant'', 1829, oil on canvas, 127 x 93 cm,

Musée Fabre The Musée Fabre is a museum in the southern French city of Montpellier, capital of the Hérault ''département''. The museum was founded by François-Xavier Fabre, a Montpellier painter, in 1825. Beginning in 2003, the museum underwent a 61.2 m ...

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

. * ''Enfant et Polichinelle'', 1882, oil on canvas, 34 x 21 cm, Musée d'Art moderne de Liège. * ''Tête de fillette'', 1882, oil on canvas, 33 x 25 cm, Musée d'Art moderne de Liège. * ''Portrait de l'artiste (autoportrait)'', 1886, oil on canvas, 32,5 x 24 cm, Musée Jules Chéret, Nice. * ''L'Italienne (portrait de Madame Noverra)'', oil on canvas, 24,5 x 19 cm, Musée départemental de l'Oise,

Beauvais Beauvais ( , ; ) is a town and Communes of France, commune in northern France, and prefecture of the Oise Departments of France, département, in the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, north of Paris. The Communes of France, commune o ...

. * ''Portrait de Madame Cornereau'', oil on canvas, 46 x 38 cm,

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) () is a museum in Paris, France, on the Rive Gauche, Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts railway station built from 1898 to 1900. The museum holds mai ...

, Paris. * ''Portrait du Sâr Mérodack Joséphin Péladan'', 1891, oil on canvas, 121 x 81 cm,

Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Angers The Musée des beaux-arts d'Angers is a museum of art located in a mansion, the "logis Barrault", place Saint-Éloi near the historic city of Angers, western France. Building The museum is part of the Toussaint complex, which includes the gar ...

. * ''Portrait de

Joseph Ravel Pierre-Joseph Ravel (1832–1908) was a Swiss civil engineer and inventor, father of the composer Maurice Ravel. He was a pioneer of the automobile industry. He invented and drove the steam-powered automobile in the late 1860s, developed an acetyl ...

, père de

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

'', 1892, oil on canvas, Le Belvédère, Montfort-l'Amaury.

Publications

*''Chansons et chansonnettes'' (1852) *''Maurice de Saxe'', drama in 5 acts, in verse, with Jules Amigues, Paris, Théâtre-Français, 2 June 1870 *''Versailles'', poème (1872)

Bibliography

* Noël Clément-Janin, ''La Curieuse Vie de Marcellin Desboutin, peintre, graveur, poète'', H. Floury, Paris, 1922 *Bernard Duplaix, "Marcellin Desboutin Prince des Bohèmes", Les Imprimeries Réunies, Moulins-Yzeure 1985

References

External links

Marcellin Desboutin au Musée d'Orsay

Bibliothèque numérique de l'INHA - Estampes de Marcellin Desboutin''Degas: The Artist's Mind''
exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art fully available online as PDF, which contains material on Marcellin Desboutin (see index) {{DEFAULTSORT:Desboutin, Marcellin 1823 births 1902 deaths People from Cérilly, Allier Painters from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes French male painters French portrait painters 19th-century French male artists 19th-century French painters 19th-century French engravers Collège Stanislas de Paris alumni Knights of the Legion of Honour