born July 16, 1796, Paris, Fr.
died Feb. 22, 1875, Paris
French landscape painter.
Born to prosperous parents, he proved unsuited to the family business and at age 25 was given a small allowance to pursue art training. He traveled frequently and painted topographical landscapes throughout his career, but he preferred making small oil sketches and drawings from nature; from these he produced large finished paintings for exhibition. By the 1850s he had achieved critical success and a large income, and he was generous to less successful artists. His naturalistic oil sketches are now more highly regarded than his more self-consciously poetic finished paintings. He is often associated with the Barbizon school . A master of tonal gradation and soft edges, he prepared the way for the Impressionist landscape painters and had an important influence on Claude Monet , Camille Pissarro , and Berthe Morisot .