Pre-Impressionism:

The school of Barbizon

school of Fontainebleau / école de 1830

Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch (1824-1903): 1900, The house of J.F. Millet (in Barbizon), 24x33, private (iR375;iR10;R290,p91) Note: Jean-Baptiste Millet lived here (1870-75?) with his older brother and Charles Tillot lived across the street. — Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch (1824-1903): 1900, The house of J.F. Millet (in Barbizon), 24×33, private (iR375;iR10;R290,p91) Note: Jean-Baptiste Millet lived here (1870-75?) with his older brother and Charles Tillot lived across the street.

The school of Barbizon (or: Fontainebleau; or: 1830):
Barbizon is a village just west of the Fontainebleau forest and about 56km south-east of Paris. In 1890 David Croal Thomson wrote the book The Barbizon school of Painters. He wrote extensive about Corot, Daubigny, Diaz, Millet and Rousseau and less extensive about Dupré, Jacque and Troyon. This was the first time this name was mentioned. (R290,p48;R3,p24).
Note: often this group is also referred to as the École de 1830.
Note: for pictures and more information on the locations see seperate page on the Fontainebleau forest.

At first there were painters who more or less regular visited the Fontainebleau forest, staying at the Ganne inn in Barbizon or in Chailly or Marlotte. This started already in the (late) 1820s. Later on some of them actually lived in Barbizon, namely Rousseau since 1836 and Jacque and Millet since 1849 (R59;R290).

Inspired by the English landscapists, the Barbizon painters started to paint real landscapes en-plein-air and especially in the forest of Fontainebleau. Alike the Impressionists they often rendered the effect of light during various conditions, namely various times of day, seasons and weather conditions. Although they sometimes rendered bright colours, their palet mostly was quite dark using a lot of browns, dark greens and greys. Their brushstrokes were more loose (R60,p30), but compared to the juxtaposed brushstrokes of the Impressionists still quite smooth. Some claim they were no ‘plein-air‘ painters and that they only made sketches in the open (R3,p646), but this vision is disputable. Art-critics criticised their lack of drawing and named their paintings unfinished, being just sketches rendering une première impression (R290,p56/7+68). Note: later the the Impressionist would receive the same critic.

Several of these artists were involved in initiatives for an (independent) exhibition apart from the Salon. In 1847 some of them formed a Salon Indépendant and in 1861 a Société National des Beaux-Arts was formed (R290,p53). Corot, Daubigny and Diaz were involved in other initiatives in 1867 + 1869 and Rousseau only in 1867. But they didn’t join the ‘Société Anonyme des Artistes…’ nor the ‘impressionist’ expositions.

The Barbizon painters are not a sharply defined group of artists (R290,p9). One can discern a core group with frequent personal and artistic contacts: Corot (1796-1875), Daubigny (1817-78), Diaz (1807-76), Dupré (1811-89), Jacque (1813-94), Millet (1814-75), Rousseau (1812-67) and Troyon (1810-65) (R290,p10). Others can be seen as forerunners, like Aligny (1798-1871), Cabat (1812-93), Flers (1802-68), Lapito (1803-74) and Michel (1763-1843). Others also were connected, but are seen as side-figures, like Barye (1795-1875), Chintreuil (1814-73), Decamps (1803-60), Français (1814-97), Harpignies (1819-1916), Hervier (1818-79), Huet (1803-69), Laveille (1820-89), Trouillebert (1829-1900) and Ziem (1821-1911).
Note: Many Barbizon painters were born in the 1810s, started to paint in the Forest of Fontainebleau when they were in their twenties and died in the 1860s or 1870s.
Note: for more information on the artists that have no link, see the page on pre-impressionists.

Many other French and foreign artists also painted more or less regularly in the Fontainebleau forest (R290,p49). So, maybe it is better to speak of an artist colony, than of a ‘school’.

In France there were many landscapists that aligned with the views of the Barbizon painters.
The Barbizon painters also had influence on the Dutch landscapists of the Hague school and on Vincent van Gogh. Especially the ‘grey sentiment’ was admired. (R290,p8+89-97).

In the 1860s the key Impressionists Monet, Renoir, Sisley and also Bazille painted here. But, also other partakers of the ‘impressionist’ expositions did paint in the Fontainebleau forest or even lived here. See for more info the seperate page on the forest of Fontainebleau.

Georges Gassies (1829-1919): 1865ca, La Maison de Théodore Rousseau, ?47x57cm, MP Barbizon (M285;aR5;iR10;iR64)

Sources:
My main sources are Adams (1994=R59); Pomarède (1996=R60); Roberts (1965=R61); Tilborgh (1988=R62); Sillevis (1985=R290); Weisberg (1985=R226); the Exposition Universelle catalogues (R231); the Salon database (iR1); the Athenaeum (iR2); WikiPedia (iR3-5); WikiMedia (iR6); Impressionist Gallery (iR22). See the link for other general References (=Rx) and to the internet references (=iRx). See links for practical hints and abbreviations and for the subscription of the paintings.
More info + info (=iR22).

Additional references (=aRx):

magrasku.de/KG-01 (page in German on the Barbizon painters; iR59)
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Recommanded citation: “Pre-Impressionism: The School of Barbizon. Last modified 2025/12/24. https://www.impressionism.nl/school-of-barbizon/”

Note: More info will follow.