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NARCISSE VIRGILIO DIAZ (18(38-1876)

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 172 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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NARCISSE VIRGILIO See also:

DIAZ (18(38-1876)  , See also:French painter, was See also:born in See also:Bordeaux of See also:Spanish parents, on the 25th of See also:August 1808 . At first a figure-painter who indulged in strong See also:colour, in his later See also:life See also:Diaz became a painter of the See also:forest and a " See also:tone artist " of the first See also:order . He spent much See also:time at See also:Barbizon; and although he is the least exalted of the See also:half-dozen See also:great artists who are usually grouped See also:round that name, he sometimes produced See also:works of the highest quality . At the See also:age of ten Diaz became an See also:orphan, and misfortune dogged his earlier years . His See also:foot was bitten by reptile in See also:Meudon See also:wood, near Sevres, where he had been taken to live with some See also:friends of his See also:mother . The bite was badly dressed, and ultimately it cost him his See also:leg . Afterwards his wooden stump became famous . At fifteen he entered the studios at Sevres, where the decoration of See also:porcelain occupied him; but tiring of the See also:restraint of fixed See also:hours, he took to See also:painting Eastern figures dressed in richly coloured garments . See also:Turks and See also:Oriental scenes attracted him, and many brilliant gems remain of this See also:period . About 1831 Diaz encountered See also:Theodore See also:Rousseau, for whom he entertained a great veneration, although Rousseau was four years his junior; but it was not until ten years later that the remark-able incident took See also:place of Rousseau teaching Diaz to paint trees . At See also:Fontainebleau Diaz found Rousseau painting his wonderful forest pictures, and determined to paint in the same way if possible . Rousseau, then in poor See also:health, worried at See also:home, and embittered against the See also:world, was difficult to approach .

Diaz followed him surreptitiously to the forest,—wooden leg not hindering,—and he dodged round after the painter, trying to observe his method of See also:

work . After a time Diaz found a way to become friendly with Rousseau, and revealed his anxiety to understand his painting . Rousseau was touched with the passionate words of admiration, and finally taught Diaz all he knew . Diaz exhibited many pictures at the See also:Paris See also:Salon, and was decorated in 1851 . During the Franco-See also:German See also:War he went to See also:Brussels . After 1871 he became fashionable, his. works gradually See also:rose in the estimation of collectors, and he worked constantly and successfully . In 1876 he caught See also:cold at his son's See also:grave, and on the 18th of See also:November of that See also:year he died at See also:Mentone, whither he had gone to recruit his health . Diaz's finest pictures are his forest scenes and storms, and it is on these, and not on his See also:pretty figures, that his fame is likely to See also:rest . There are several fairly See also:good examples of the See also:master in the Louvre, and three small figure pictures in the See also:Wallace collection, See also:Hertford See also:House . Perhaps the most notable of Diaz's works are " La See also:Fee aux Perks " (1857), in the Louvre; " Sunset in the Forest " (1868);." The See also:Storm." and " The Forest of Fontainebleau " (187o) at See also:Leeds . Diaz had no well-known pupils, but See also:Leon Richet followed markedly his methods of See also:tree-painting, and J . F .

See also:

Millet at one period painted small figures in avowed See also:imitation of Diaz's then popular subjects . See A . Hustin, See also:Les Artistes celebres: Diaz (Paris) ; D . Croat See also:Thomson, The Barbizon School of Painters (See also:London, 1890) ; J . W . Mollett, Diaz (London, 1890) ; J . See also:Claretie, Peintres et sculpteurs contemporains: Diaz (Paris, 1882) ; See also:Albert See also:Wolff, La Capitale de See also:Part: Narcisse Diaz (Paris, 1886); Ph . Burty, Maitres et petitmaitres: N . Diaz (Paris, 1877) . (D . C .

End of Article: NARCISSE VIRGILIO DIAZ (18(38-1876)
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