Charles-François Daubigny and Harvest

'The Harvest' (1851) by Charles-François Daubigny; Musée d'Orsay, Paris

I really do like landscape paintings and appreciate them more and more. Charles-François Daubigny, born on 15 February 1817 and died on 19 February 1878, was a French landscape painter. Together with Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, Jean-François Millet and Théodore Rousseau, he was a leading member of the Barbizon School. It wasn't until 1852 that his work got recognised when his painting 'The Harvest' won the Gold Medal at the Salon in Paris. It became his first great success. After 1856, Daubigny traveled with his boat 'Le Botin' ('Little Box') along the Seine and Oise on several occasions and painted a great number of riverside pictures. I quite like this image, a painter crafting art on a boat that became his studio. I've decided to post 'The Harvest' here because I absolutely love the great bright colours. But I didn't want to keep from you one rather curious detail concerning his riverside paintings: it's been said that if Daubigny liked his painting himself he added another duck or two to the canvas. So look out for the ducks! Here's one.