Thomas Couture

{"Id":752,"Name":"Thomas Couture","Biography":"\u003Cstrong\u003ETHOMAS COUTURE (1815-1879)\u003C/strong\u003E was an influential French history painter and teacher.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EHe was born at Senlis Oise, France and at age 11, Thomas Couture\u0027s family moved to Paris where he would study at the industrial arts school (\u0026Eacute;cole des Arts et M\u0026eacute;tiers) and later at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. He failed the prestigious Prix de Rome competition at the \u0026Eacute;cole six times, but he felt the problem was with the \u0026Eacute;cole, not himself. Couture finally did win the prize in 1837.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EIn 1840, he began exhibiting historical and genre pictures at the Paris Salon, earning several medals for his works, in particular for his 1847 masterpiece, \u003Cu\u003ERomans in the Decadence of the Empire\u003C/u\u003E, now in the Luxembourg. Shortly after his this success, Couture opened an independent atelier meant to challenge the Ecole des Beaux-Arts by turning out the best new history painters.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ECouture\u0027s innovative technique gained much attention and he received Government and Church commissions for murals during the late 1840s through the 1850s, and obtained several medals. However, he never completed the first two commissions, while the third met with mixed criticism. Upset by the unfavorable reception of his murals, in 1860 he left Paris for a time returning to his hometown of Senlis where he continued to teach young artists who came to him. In 1867 he thumbed his nose at the academic establishment by publishing a book on his own ideas and working methods.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EDuring his lifetime, Couture taught such later luminaries of the art world as \u003Ca href=\u0022/asp/database/art.asp?aid=790\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 class=\u0022link\u0022\u003EEdouard Manet\u003C/a\u003E, \u003Ca href=\u0022/asp/database/art.asp?aid=154\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 class=\u0022link\u0022\u003EHenri Fantin-Latour\u003C/a\u003E, and \u003Ca href=\u0022/asp/database/art.asp?aid=666\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 class=\u0022link\u0022\u003EPierre Puvis de Chavannes\u003C/a\u003E.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EAsked by a publisher to do an autobiography, Thomas Couture responded with words that are even more appropriate today: \u0022Biography is the exaltation of personality --- and personality is the scourge of our time.\u0022\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EThomas Couture died at Villiers-le-Bel, \u0026Icirc;le-de-France and was interred in the Pere Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, France.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cu\u003ESources:\u003C/u\u003E\u003C/strong\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cli type=\u0022square\u0022\u003EEntries on the artist in the \u003Ca href=\u0022http://40.1911encyclopedia.org/C/CO/COUTURE_THOMAS.htm\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 class=\u0022link\u0022\u003E1911 Edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica\u003C/a\u003E and the \u003Ca href=\u0022http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Couture\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EWikipedia\u003C/a\u003E.\u003Cp\u003E","Awards":null,"HasAlbums":false,"HasPortraits":true,"HasRelationships":true,"HasArticles":false,"HasDepictedPlaces":false,"HasLetters":false,"HasLibraryItems":false,"HasProducts":true,"HasSignatures":false,"HasVideos":false,"HasMapLocations":true,"TotalArtworks":72}