Jean Frédéric Bazille (December 6, 1841 – November 28, 1870) was a French Impressionist painter.
Many of Bazille's major works are examples of figure painting in which he placed the subject figure within a landscape painted en plein air.
Life and work
Frédéric Bazille was born in Montpellier, Hérault, Languedoc-Roussillon, France, into a wealthy Protestant family.
He became interested in painting after seeing some works of Eugène Delacroix.
His family agreed to let him study painting, but only if he also studied medicine.
Bazille began studying medicine in 1859, and moved to Paris in 1862 to continue his studies.
There he met Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Alfred Sisley, was drawn to Impressionist painting, and began taking classes in Charles Gleyre's studio.
After failing his medical exam in 1864, he began painting full-time.
His close friends included Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, and Édouard Manet.
Bazille was generous with his wealth, and helped support his less fortunate associates by giving them space in his studio and materials to use.
Bazille was just twenty-three years old when he painted several of his best-known works, including The Pink Dress (c. 1864, Musée d'Orsay, Paris).
This painting combines a portrait-like depiction of Bazille's cousin, Thérèse des Hours, who is seen from behind—and the sunlit landscape at which she gazes.Rosenblum, 1989, p. 225 His best-known painting is Family Reunion of 1867–1868 (Musée d'Orsay, Paris).
Frédéric Bazille joined a Zouave regiment in August 1870, a month after the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War.
On November 28 of that year, he was with his unit at the Battle of Beaune-la-Rolande when, his officer having been injured, he took command and led an assault on the German position.
He was hit twice in the failed attack and died on the battlefield at the age of twenty-eight.
His father travelled to the battlefield a few days later to take his body back for burial at Montpellier over a week later.
Main works
La robe rose, (1864) –   147 x 110 cm, Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Studio on Rue Furstenberg, (1865) –  80 x 65 cm, Musée Fabre, Montpellier
Aigues-Mortes, (1867) –  46 x 55 cm, Musée Fabre, Montpellier
Self-portrait, (1865) –  109 x72 cm, Art Institute of Chicago
Family Reunion, (1867) –   152 x 230 cm, Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Le Pécheur à l'épervier, (1868) –   134 x 83 cm, Fondation Rau pour le tiers-monde, Zürich
View of the Village, (1868) –    130 x 89 cm, Musée Fabre, Montpellier
Scène d'été, (1869) –  158 x 158 cm, Cambridge, Harvard University
La Toilette, (1870) –   132 x 127 cm., Musée Fabre, Montpellier
L'Atelier de la rue Condamine, (1870) –   98 x 128.5 cm, Musée d'Orsay, Paris
Paysage au bord du Lez, (1870) –   137.8 x 202.5 cm, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis
Gallery
File:Bazille, Frédéric - Self Portrait.jpeg|Self Portrait, unknown date File:Frédéric Bazille Study of Trees.jpg|Study of Trees, 1863 File:Jean Frédéric Bazille - Reclining Nude - 1864.jpg|Reclining Nude, 1864 File:Frédéric Bazille - The Pink Dress - Google Art Project.jpg|The Pink Dress (View of Castelnau-le-Lez, Hérault), 1864, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay File:Bazille, Frédéric - Chailly.jpeg|Chailly, 1865, Musée Fabre, Montpellier File:Bazille Sutdio in the rue de Furstenberg.jpg|Studio on Rue Furstenberg, 1865, Musée Fabre, Montpellier File:Jean Frédéric Bazille - Little Italian Street Singer 1866.jpg|Little Italian Street Singer, 1866 File:Frédéric Bazille - The Little Gardener - Google Art Project.jpg|Le Petit Jardinier (The Little Gardener), c. 1866–67, oil on canvas Museum of Fine Arts, Houston File:
Frédéric Bazille - Nature morte avec du poisson.jpg|Nature morte avec du poisson, Still life with fish, c. 1866–67 File:Renoir by Bazille.jpg|Portrait of Renoir, 1867, oil on canvas, Musée d'Orsay File:Bazille, Frédéric - Aigues-Mortes.jpeg|Aigues-Mortes, 1867 File:Frédéric Bazille 001.jpg|The Family Reunion, c. 1867, Musée d'Orsay File:Bazille-Nature morte au héron.JPG|Nature morte au héron, 1867 File:Jean Frédéric Bazille - Etude pour une vendange (left) 1868.jpg|Etude pour une vendange, 1868 File:Bazille, Frédéric ~ View of the Village, 1868.jpg|View of the Village, 1868, Musée Fabre, Montpellier File:Bazille - Pêcheur à l'épervier.jpg|Fisherman with a Net, 1868 File:Bazille, Frédéric - Portrait of Alphonse Tissie.jpeg|Portrait of Alphonse Tissie, 1868, Musée Fabre, Montpellier File:Bazille, Frederic — Flowers — 1868.jpg|Flowers, 1868 File:
Frédéric Bazille - Portrait de Paul Verlaine comme une Troubadour.jpg|Portrait of Paul Verlaine,  1868, Dallas Museum of Art File:Bazille, Frédéric ~ Summer Scene, 1869, Oil on canvas Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts.jpg|Scène d'été, 1869, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts File:Bazille, Frédéric - Portrait of Edmond Maitre.jpeg|Portrait of , 1869 File:Bazille La Toilette.jpg|La Toilette, 1870, Musée Fabre File:Frédéric Bazille, Young Woman with Peonies, 1870, NGA 61356.jpg|Black Woman with Peonies, 1870, National Gallery of Art File:Frederic Bazille Paysage au bord du Lez.jpg|Paysage au bord du Lez, 1870, oil on canvas, Minneapolis Institute of Arts See also
A Studio at Les Batignolles
Notes
References
Pitman, Dianne W. (1998).
Bazille: Purity, Pose and Painting in the 1860s.
University Park: Penn State University Press. .
Rosenblum, Robert (1989).
Paintings in the Musée d'Orsay.
New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang.
External links
Frédéric Bazille at the National Gallery of Art
Bazille Gallery at MuseumSyndicate
Impressionism: a centenary exhibition, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (PDF available online), which contains material on Bazille (p. 37–39)
