NARCISSE VIRGILE DIAZ DE LA PENA (1807-1876) Lot n° 13

Orientalist Scene Oil on canvas signed lower right, old label on the back. Dimensions : 22 x 27 cm Between Barbizon and Impressionism, Diaz was one of the most important painters of his time, considerably influencing his generation and this up to Renoir. He started working in a porcelain factory in Paris and studied for a while with the painter Souchon, a former student of David. Diaz exhibited for the first time at the Paris Salon in 1831 and was included almost every year between 1834 and 1859, sometimes with three or even four paintings. A painter of genre and landscapes, Diaz is above all an independent, and one can notice the essential difference that characterizes his manner compared to that of Théodore Rousseau. He pursues that which escapes: he observes in the woods on a very small space, the movements of the shade and the light, when Rousseau makes exactly the opposite. He is essentially a painter of the moment, unlike Rousseau, Dupré or Millet who paint slowly. His "instantaneousness" can make Diaz be considered a pre-impressionist, Monticelli, even Renoir, were influenced by him. Bibliography: Pierre Miquel, in: le paysage français au 19ème siècle 1800-1900, l'Ecole de la Nature, Editions de la Martinelle, Vol. II-III, Maurs-la-Jolie, 1985. Main museums : The Louvre and Musée d'Orsay Paris, Metropolitan New York, National Gallery, Courtauld Institute and Wallace Collection London, the Hermitage St. Petersburg, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, Berlin, Bordeaux, Chantilly, Glasgow, Liège, Lille, Montpellier, Montreal, Moscow, Reims, Rouen, La Rochelle, Stockholm, Toulouse, etc.