French 1854-1941 was a French artist of French-Italian parents and was born in Paris on December 11, 1854. He is recognized as a master of French impressionist street scenes spanning four decades. His work is sought out by collectors all over the world. Well-known in France, his paintings of the early 1900s accurately represent the era in which he lived: a happy, bustling Paris, la Belle Époque, with horse-drawn carriages, trolley cars and its first omnibuses. Galien-Laloue's works are valued not only for their contribution to 20th century art, but for the actual history, which they document. He was a populariser of street scenes, usually painted in autumn or winter. His work can be seen at the Musee des Beaux-Arts, Louvier; Musee des Beaux-Arts, La Rochelle; Mulhouse, France. Galien-Laloue has inspired and influenced many of yesterday's and today's artists, including renowned French impressionists Edouard Leon Cortes and Antoine Blanchard. A typical Galien-Laloue painting depicts sidewalks and avenues crowded with people or tourists mingling before the capital's monuments. He also painted the landscapes of Normandy and Seine-et-Marne, as well as military scenes he was commissioned to produce in 1914. The Republic of France selected Galien-Laloue to work as a 'war artist,' both during the Franco-Prussian War and World War I, chiefly in watercolor. "He was originally trained as an architect, but did not enjoy the promotional aspects of the profession. Under the tutelage of Charles Laloue, he quickly gained fame as an artist, specializing in watercolor and gouache." "Galien-Laloue mastered the depiction of the Belle Epoque Paris street scene, much in the vein of Jean Beraud (1849-1936) or James Jacques Tissot (1836-1902). He portrayed Paris at its best: irresistible shops, boulevards and "quartiers". With delicate line and dramatic lighting, Galien-Laloue documented the daily bustle of one of the world's most beautiful cities, Paris."  Related Paintings of Eugene Galien-Laloue :. | Village au Bord de Eau | Quai aux fleur (mk21) | La Porte de Chatillon | The path outside the village | On the riverbank |
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Christine de Pisan
French poet and arguably the first female author. 1364-1430 French writer. She was the daughter of an astrologer to Charles V and the wife of a court secretary and took up writing to support her children when she was widowed, producing 10 volumes of graceful verse, including ballads, rondeaux, lays, and complaints, many in the courtly-love tradition. Some works, both poetry and prose, champion women, notably The Book of the City of Ladies (1405).
Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps
(March 3, 1803 - August 22, 1860) was a French painter. He was born in Paris. In his youth he travelled in the East, and reproduced Oriental life and scenery with a bold fidelity to nature that puzzled conventional critics. His powers, however, soon came to be recognized, and he was ranked along with Delacroix and Vernet as one of the leaders of the French school. At the Paris Exhibition of 1855 he received the grand or council medal. Most of his life was passed in the neighborhood of Paris. He was fond of animals, especially dogs, and indulged in all kinds of field sports. He died in 1860 in consequence of being thrown from a horse while hunting at Fontainebleau. Decamps' style was characteristically and intensely French. It was marked by vivid dramatic conception, bold and even rough brushstrokes, and startling contrasts of color and of light and shade. His subjects embraced an unusually wide range. He availed himself of his travels in the East in dealing with scenes from Scripture history, which he was probably the first of European painters to represent with their true and natural local background. Of this class were his Joseph sold by his Brethren, Moses taken from the Nile, and his scenes from the life of Samson, nine vigorous sketches in charcoal and white. Perhaps the most impressive of his historical pictures is Defeat of the Cimbri, representing the conflict between a horde of barbarians and a disciplined army. Decamps produced a number of genre pictures, chiefly scenes from French and Algerian domestic life, the most marked feature of which is humour. The same characteristic attaches to many of his numerous animal paintings; Decamps was especially fond of painting monkeys. His well-known painting The Monkey Connoisseurs satirizes the jury of the French Academy of Painting, which had rejected several of his earlier works on account of their divergence from any known standard.
Paul Hoeniger
German, 1865-1924