Paintings by Henri Fantin-Latour

Henri Fantin-Latour (1846-1904) was a French Impressionist painter and lithographer. He was a student of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and was influenced by the symbolist movement.

Although he created some ingenious lithographs, Henri Fantin-Latour is best known for his portraits of Parisian friends, who all belonged to new movements of the French artistic and intellectual elite.

In this article, you can read about and see two of Henri Fantin-Latour's famous Impressionist portraits:

Portrait of Edouard Manet: Manet was among the artists represented at the Salon des Refusés. Learn why Henri Fantin-Latour chose to paint his colleague.
A Studio in Batignolles Quarter: Read about how Edouard Manet inspired Henri Fantin-Latour and other French impressionists.

Go to the next page to learn more about Impressionism, Henri Fantin-Latour, and Edouard Manet. For more on Impressionist paintings, artists, and art history, see:

Portrait of Edouard Manet by Henri Fantin-Latour

Henri Fantin-Latour conceived his Portrait of Edouard Manet (1867) to present the artist as a respectable man of his times. Impeccably dressed and with a reserved demeanor, this depiction of Edouard Manet countered the wide-spread perception of him as a renegade that had been promoted in the conservative art press. In fact, Manet never regarded himself as a revolutionary -- it was his choice to pose as a bourgeois gentleman -- but he insisted that his art reflect the image and interests of his own society.

Henri Fantin-Latour was not the only young Impressionist artist to be inspired by and in awe of Manet's genius, which is evident in the group of people portrayed in his painting A Studio in Batignolles Quarter. Go to the next page to learn about this work.

For more on Impressionist paintings, artists, and art history, see:

A Studio in Batignolles Quarter by Henri Fantin-Latour

In his group portrait, A Studio in Batignolles Quarter (1870), Henri Fantin-Latour honored Manet's influence on a new generation of artists. Edouard Manet, seated at his easel, is painting a portrait of the artist and critic Zacharie Astruc. The tall figure standing behind Astruc's chair is Frederic Bazille; Claude Monet can be seen at the far right behind him. Pierre-Auguste Renoir stands in the center, and the critic Émile Zola is to his immediate left.

For more on Impressionist paintings, artists, and art history, see:

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Debra N. Mancoff is an art historian and lecturer and the author of numerous books on nineteenth-century European and American paintings. She is a scholar in residence at the Newberry Library.