Paul Desire Trouillebert

Born in Paris in 1829 and died there in 1900, Paul-Désiré Trouillebert was a French painter. He studied painting at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, specializing in oil painting on canvas or panel. He trained under the portrait painter Ernest Hébert and joined the studio of Charles-François Jalabert, a renowned portraitist. Associated with the Barbizon School, Trouillebert painted primarily outdoors and studied from nature. He also worked in his studios in Paris and Candes, as well as on his floating studio, which allowed him to travel the rivers between Saint-Germain-sur-Vienne, Montsoreau, and Candes. His work focused on the rural landscapes he encountered along the Vienne, Oise, Loire, and Somme rivers. He paid close attention to trees, animals, but also to the crops in the surrounding fields and waterways, which formed the heart of his work. In his early career, he painted nudes and genre scenes, for which he was noticed. His luminous compositions are characterized by the prominent role given to water, sky, and atmospheric effects that impact the landscape. Skillfully constructed, his landscapes exploit effects of transparency, particularly characteristic of his work, which lend the motifs a certain dynamism. A particularly talented landscape painter, Paul-Désiré Trouillebert enjoyed considerable success with his contemporaries. From the 1860s onward, he exhibited his paintings in various important Salons, such as the Salon des Artistes Français, as well as with major French art dealers. His style was particularly appreciated for its combination of precision and lightness, its ethereal quality, and the great attention paid to capturing the effects of light on the landscape throughout the day. His style is notably close to that of his contemporary and friend, the landscape painter Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot.