Zacharie Astruc (23 February 1833 in

Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...

– 24 May 1907 in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) was a French

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

, poet, and

art critic An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...

Biography

Astruc was an important figure in the cultural life of France in the second half of the 19th century, and participated in the

First Impressionist Exhibition The First Impressionist Exhibition was an art exhibition held by the , a group of nineteenth-century artists who had been rejected by the official Paris Salon (Paris), Salon and pursued their own venue to exhibit their artworks. The exhibition wa ...

of 1874 and also in the Exposition Universelle of 1900. As an art critic, writing primarily between 1859–72, he was a strong defender of Courbet, and was one of the first to recognize the talent of Manet, who he had befriended as early as 1854, or 1857 at the latest. He also defended

Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...

, Whistler, Carolus-Duran, Fantin-Latour, and

Alphonse Legros Alphonse Legros (; 8 May 1837 – 8 December 1911) was a French, later British, painter, etcher, sculptor, and medallist. He moved to London in 1863 and later was naturalized as British. He was important as a teacher in the British etching ...

. Art historian Michael Fried has written that Astruc "more than any other writer spoke for Manet's generation" and that "between 1859 and 1863 the young Astruc may have been the best critic of new art in France." Astruc had a very wide range of artistic interests, both in subject and in form. Before becoming most well-known as a sculptor, he was a writer, critic, painter, playwright, and composer. Astruc was a hispanophile, well versed in the art and literature of Spain. After his own trip to Spain in 1864, he helped prepare the itinerary for Manet's only trip to Spain in 1865 by sending him a "long and effusive" itinerary, and later praised Manet's Spanish-inspired paintings as the work of "the artist who revealed Spain to the French." Astruc helped to promote a widespread revival of interest in

El Greco Doménikos Theotokópoulos (, ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco (; "The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance, regarded as one of the greatest artists of all time. ...

's paintings.J. Russel
Seeing The Art Of El Greco As Never Before
/ref> He wrote a song dedicated to the Spanish dancer Lola de Valence in 1863, which was printed with a reproduction of a painting by Manet of de Valence as cover art. Astruc was also a leading figure in the

Japonism ''Japonisme'' is a French term that refers to the popularity and influence of Japanese art and design among a number of Western European artists in the nineteenth century following the forced reopening of foreign trade with Japan in 1858. Japon ...

movement in France in the 1860s and '70s, publishing, among other writings, three pivotal articles on Japonism in the Parisian newspaper, ''L'Etendard,'' in 1867–68.S. Flescher 1978, Chapter lV. He wrote a Japanese-influenced play, ''L'ile de la demoiselle'', in 1865. He was married to Ida Astruc, whose bust Manet sculpted in Spanish costume in 1877. Astruc was an important connecting figure in the French art world of the time, if not a hugely important artist in his own right, and can be seen in several notable artworks of the 1860s to 1880s. He appears in

Henri Fantin-Latour Henri Fantin-Latour (; 14 January 1836 – 25 August 1904) was a French painter and lithographer best known for his flower paintings and group portraits of Parisian artists and writers. Early life Born in Grenoble, Isère, Ignace Henri Jean Th� ...

's painting '' A Studio at Les Batignolles'', where he is seated next to Manet, who is shown painting his portrait. Astruc is generally credited with titling Manet's painting '' Olympia'' since an excerpt from an Astruc poem was included in the catalogue entry with the piece when it was exhibited at the 1865

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...

.Sharon Flescher, ''Zacharie Astruc: Critic, Artist and Japoniste (1833–1907)'' (Garland Publishing: New York, 1978). ISBN 9780824032265 Manet painted Astruc at least twice: Once in a portrait in 1866, and again in 1870's ''Music Lesson'', in which Astruc plays the role of a music master teaching a young girl; Astruc's guitar can be seen in both works. Along with many figures in the French art world of the late 1800s, Astruc inspired a character in French writer Marius Roux's novel ''The Substance and the Shadow'', a

roman à clef A ''roman à clef'' ( ; ; ) is a novel about real-life events that is overlaid with a façade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people and the "key" is the relationship between the non-fiction and the fiction. This m ...

whose main character was a thinly disguised

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work introduced new modes of representation, influenced avant-garde artistic movements of the early 20th century a ...

. "Lespignac", Astruc's character, is a con artist who becomes an art dealer.

Works by Astruc

File:Zacharie Astruc - Scène de rue.jpg, ''Scène de rue à Cuenca'', 1873 Image:Roses négligemment jetées sur un vase.jpg, ''Roses Carelessly
Thrown on a Vase'' Image:Zacharie Astruc Intérieur Parisien.jpg, ''Parisian Interior'' Image:Les Prèsents Chinois.jpg, ''Chinese Gifts'' Image:Masques05.JPG, ''The Mask Seller''

Jardin du Luxembourg The Jardin du Luxembourg (), known in English as the Luxembourg Garden, colloquially referred to as the Jardin du Sénat (Senate Garden), is located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. The creation of the garden began in 1612 when Mar ...

File:Flowers in a Vase MET DP805119.jpg, ''Flowers in a Vase'', c. 1884–1904 File:Zacharie Astruc - La toilette du toréro - PDUT1879 - Musée des Beaux-Arts de la ville de Paris.jpg, '' La toilette du toréro'', 1880 File:Zacharie Astruc - Anémones en caisse.jpg, ''Anémones en caisse'', c. 1889

Works featuring Astruc

A friend of many French artists of his era, Astruc was often included in their works. File:Portrait of Zacharie Astruc (1866) - Edouard Manet (Kunsthalle Bremen).jpg, ''Portrait of Zacharie Astruc'' 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 ...

, 1866, Kunsthalle Bremen File:Bazille - L'HOMME AU CIGARE OR PORTRAIT DE ZACHARIE ASTRUC, 1869, lot.138 (cropped).jpg, '' Portrait de Zacharie Astruc'' by Frédéric Bazille, 1869 File:Henri Fantin-Latour - A Studio at Les Batignolles - Google Art Project.jpg, ''A Studio at Les Batignolles'',

, 1870 File:Édouard Manet - Leçon de Musique.jpg, ''Music Lesson'' by

, 1870 File:Frédéric Bazille - Bazille's Studio - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Bazille's Studio'' by Frédéric Bazille, 1870

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Astruc, Zacharie 1833 births 1907 deaths French art critics 19th-century French sculptors 19th-century French male artists French male sculptors 20th-century French sculptors 20th-century French male artists Artists from Angers French male non-fiction writers