François Bonvin

b. 1817 — d. 1887

Born into a poor family, François Bonvin was chiefly a self-taught artist. His childhood was an unhappy one, marked by the death of his mother when he was four, his father's remarriage, and the growing family's constant moving and change of fortune. From 1828 through 1830 he was lucky enough to be sent to the École de Dessin in Paris, but his artistic education was short-lived and he began working as a typesetter in 1832. He became a father one month after his marriage in 1837 and, in order to achieve financial security, applied for a clerk's job at the Paris Police Department-where he remained until 1850-while still working as a printer. Painting was still part of his life as attested by one of his first known oils, a still life from 1839. His health declined, and during a hospital-ization in 1842, Bonvin took up drawing again. He eventually returned to study at the École de Dessin and also at the Manufacture des Gobelins and in 1843 attended classes at the Académie Suisse where he could sketch from nude models. Around this time Bonvin was also introduced to Granet (q.v.), whom he would consider his true mentor, although never officially studying with him. Bonvin began painting scenes from everyday life, reflecting the simplicity and often the drudgery of the lower classes. He was encouraged in his choice of subject matter by Granet, who suggested he study the Dutch masters. Bonvin exhibited at the Salon from 1847 to 1880, receiving a second-class medal in 1850. The artist became involved in the realist movement, meeting regularly at the Brasserie Andler with, among others, his friends Jules Champfleury, a novelist and art critic, and Courbet (q.v.). During the Second Empire (1852-70) Bonvin earned a reputation with his still lifes and genre paintings that often paid tribute to the Dutch Old Masters. He traveled several times to the Netherlands in order to study such works. Bonvin also encour-aged younger painters, such as J. A. M. Whistler (1834-1903) and Fantin-Latour (q.v.), holding an exhibition of their works in his studio after they were rejected at the Salon. During his final years, Bonvin suffered from blindness and paralysis and died a broken man in 1887.