Realist Painters

Rosa Bonheur 1822-99
French

  • First successful painter of working-class subjects
  • Paintings of rural life
  • Studied animal anatomy — visited butcher houses
  • Wore men’s clothing — better to work in
  • Popular Work — Plowing in the Nivernais: The Dressing of the Vines

Gustave Courbet 1819-77
French

  • Portrayed the working class with outright truthfulness
  • Lack of idealism
  • Popular work – A Burial at Ornans

Edouard Manet 1832-83
French
Popular work 1 — Olympia
Popular work 2 — Luncheon on the Grass

Winslow Homer 1836-1910
American

  • An illustrator for Harper’s Weekly
  • Illustrations from the Civil War
  • His Civil War works avoided brutality and violence, and showed mundane, everyday depictions
  • Popular work — Prisoners from the Front

Thomas Eakins 1844-1916
American

  • Interest in human anatomy
  • Called himself a scientific realist
  • His realism was generally considered too harsh during his lifetime
  • Popular Work — The Swimming Hole

Jennie Augusta Brownscombe 1850-1936
Made a living teaching and selling paintings for cards and calendars
Depicted a charming country life
Popular Work — Love’s Young Dream

Pre-Raphaelites

How to recognize Pre-Raphaelite art

Important Pre-Raphaelite Artists
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Adolphe William Bouguerau
Sir Edward Burne-Jones
John William Waterhouse

Video lecture on Millais Ophelia

"Ophelia" by John Everett Millais (1852) England

“Ophelia” by John Everett Millais (1852) England

[Continue on to learn more about Impressionistic Painters]