Artist: Vollon, Antoine

Antoine Vollon (1833 – 1900) was a French realist artist, best known as a painter of still lifes, landscapes, and figures. During his lifetime, Vollon was a successful celebrity, enjoyed an excellent reputation, and was called a “painter’s painter“. In 2004, New York’s then-PaceWildenstein gallery suggested that his “place in the history of French painting has still not been properly assessed“.

Vollon was born the son of an ornamental craftsman in Lyon, France. He taught himself to paint. He began an apprenticeship to an engraver in metal, and studied under Jehan Georges Vibert at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Lyon from 1850 to 1853 to become a printmaker. He then worked at decorating enamelled pans and stoves. In 1860 he and Marie-Fanny Boucher married and later had two children, Alexis and Marguerite.

In 1859 he moved to Paris, with the intention of becoming a painter. There he became a student of Theodule Ribot and was influenced by Dutch still life painters of the 17th century. He became friends with Alexandre Dumas, Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Honore Daumier and Charles-Francois Daubigny. Vollon once described himself as a young artist “madly in love with painting“.

Vollon suffered a stroke while painting at Versailles and later caught a fever. He died shortly thereafter, on 27 August 1900, at the age of 67. He is buried in Pere Lachaise Cemetery, in the 20th arrondissement of Paris.

Click here to read Antoine Vollon’s full bio on Wikipedia.

Vollon painted in many different parts of France. Here are the places he painted in (a link “⇠” to his works will appear here when published):

• Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes
  • Lyon
• Normandy
  • Dieppe ⇠
  • Etretat
  • Le Treport
  • Rouen
• Nouvelle-Aquitaine
  • Bordeaux
• Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur
  • Marseille

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