It is a grave, rhythmic world, however; and if it
lacks the dewy atmosphere of Corot, it has an intensity which the more
sanely balanced painter seldom reached. Dupre, born at Nantes in 1812,
and dying near Paris, at the village of L'Isle-Adam, in 1889, made
his first important exhibit at the Salon in 1835, after a visit
to England, where he met Constable. This picture, "Environs of
Southampton," was typical of the work he was to do. A long waste of
land near the sea, the middle distance in deepest shadow, and richly
colored storm-clouds racing overhead; the foreground in sunlight,
enhanced by the artificial contrast of the rest of the picture; a
wooden dyke on which, together with two white horses near by, the
gleam of sunlight falls almost with a sound, so intensified is all the
effect, make up the picture. Dupre's work is generally keyed up to
the highest possible pitch, and it is no little merit that, with the
constant insistence on this note, it is seldom or never theatrical.
Constant Troyon, from sympathy of aim, is commonly included in this
group, although it was gradually, and after success achieved in
landscape, that his more powerful cattle pictures were produced, which
alone entitle him to the place. Born at Sevres in 1810, where his
father was employed at the manufactory of porcelain, he was thrown in
contact with Dupre and Diaz.
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