Landscape Henri-joseph Harpignies (1819-1916

Henri Joseph Harpignies was born in Valenciennes (Nord) on June 28, 1819 and died in Saint-Privé (Yonne) on August 28, 1916. He was a French landscape painter, watercolorist and engraver of the Barbizon School.
Henri Harpignies' parents, Henri and Adèle1, intended him for a commercial career, but his determination to become a painter led them to authorize him to enter the studio of Jean Achard in Paris in 1846. After two years of training, he travelled to Italy, returning to France in 1850 to paint children's bamboozles in a landscape setting and joining Corot and the Barbizon School, whose influence he felt. The two artists became friends and traveled together to Italy in 1860.
In 1859, he collaborated in the decoration of the staff room of the Hospital de la Charité in Paris [ref. needed], partially reconstructed in the museum of the Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris2.
Upon his return from Italy in 1861, he had his first success at the Salon with his Lisière de bois sur les bords de l'Allier. He then exhibited regularly at the Salon. In 1866, he received his first medal for Le Soir dans la campagne de Rome3, acquired by the State4. He lived at 185, rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré in the 8th arrondissement of Paris before moving to 9, rue Coëtlogon.
During his very long career, Henri Harpignies painted a large number of works in Hérisson in the Bourbonnais, as well as in the Nivernais and Auvergne. He produced decorative works for the Paris Opera, including the Val d'Égrie panel, which he exhibited at the Salon in 1870. He was a friend of Léon Bonnat who painted his portrait twice in 1889 (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Valenciennes5 and Petit Palais in Paris6).
He painted the stained glass windows of the castle of Trousse-Barrière in Briare in 1895. In 1898, he was named Rosati of honor7.
Anatole France called him "Michelangelo of trees and peaceful countryside "8.
At the end of his life, he was almost blind.
He is buried in the cemetery of Saint-Privé (Yonne)9.