A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF
COURBES, Jean de, was a French engraver,
born about the jear 1592. He was principally
employed for the booksellers, but worked both in
England and in Spain. We have by him the por-
traits of Sir Philip Sidney and Mary, Countess of
Pembroke.
COURBET, GusTAVE, a distinguished French painter, was born at Ornans (Doubs), on the 10th of June, 1819. He began the study of jurispru- dence, but at the age of twenty abandoned it for painting, and repaired to Paris, where he eventu- ally selected the school of David d'Angers. The ill-success that befell his early pictures only acted as a stimulus, and led him to a constant and close study of nature ; and he selected intention- ally, with a view to bring the feeling of the public more into harmony with his own conceptions, the details of every-day life as the field in which to exhibit his talents. Being really gifted he could not fail in the result to command attention. In fact it was not long before one of his works, entitled 'The Conflagration,' aroused the notice of the authorities, who condemned it as dangerous to the public welfare. His figure subjects were briUiant in colcur and rich in tone, but were ill drawn and badly grouped. Other works of his ngain, though powerfully painted, were marred by the selection of subjects with a vicious tend- ency. His landscapes, however, being from the nature of their subject free from any such defects, could not fail, distinguished as they were by truth, einiplicity, and very careful finish, to add consider- ably to his reputation. Nor were his animal pieces less pleasing, while his portraits gave proof in a still further direction of his being possessed of very remarkable talent. The unfavourable art criticisms wiiich his early works had encountered appear to Imve embittered his mind to some extent against his brother artists, and at the Exhibitions of 1855 and 1867 he had a separate building constructed to display his own pictures. ' A Stormy Sea,' ('La Vague,') exhibited in the Salon of 1870, was bought for the Luxembourg, and was exhibited at the Paris Exhibition in 1878. In 1871 his democratic tend- encias led him to join the Communists, who en- trusted him with the charge of the Museums. He took a leading part in the destruction of the Column in the Place Vendome. On the fall of the Commune he was condemned to six months' im- prisonment, as well as to the pa3nient of an in- demnity for his share in the affair of the Place Vendome. He eventually retired into Switzerland, where after a painful illness he died at La Tour-de- Peilz, near Vevay, on the Slst December, 1877. An exhibition of the works of the Painter of Ornans, as Courbet delighted to be called, was held in Paris in 1882. The Louvre has now the 'Interment at Ornans ' (painted in 1850), the ' Combat de Cerfs ' (1861), the ' Hallali du Cerf ' (1867), the ' Homme a la ceinture de cuir,' the ' Homme blesse,' and ' La Vague ' (1870). His other principal paintings were :
The Woman with the Parrot. 1866. Afternoon at Oruaus, (In the Lille Museum.) 1S49. Landscape, near Honfleur. {In the Lille Museum.) The Stone-hreakers. 1850. Stags in Spring-time. (/« the Marseilles Museum.) La Filense. 1853. Les Baigueuses. 1853. The Paiuter'.s Studio. 1855. La Remise aux Chevreuiis. 1866. La Sieste pendant la saison des foins. 1869.
COURT, Jean, called Viqier, was one of the mo3t skilful of the enamel painters who flourished at Limoges in the 16th century. His works are very rare and bear the dates 1556 and 1557 only. Almost all are painted in grisaille on a black ground, and heightened with gold, the flesh being tinted. Some of his enamels are in the Louvre. He died about 1583, being then not less than 72 years of age. Much confusion has existed on account of the similarity of the names and mono- grams, and often of the works, between this artist, Jean de Court, and Jean Courteys.
COURT, Jean de, an enamel painter of Limoges, succeeded Francois Clouet as painter to the king in 1572, and was in turn succeeded by his son, Charles de Court, in 1584 or 1589. Jean de Court painted in 1574 a portrait of Henry III., then Duke of Anjou.
COURT, Joseph DisiBfi, a painter of historical subjects and portraits, was born at Rouen in 1797. He became a pupil at the 6cole des Beaux- Arts under Gros, and after carrying off the princi- pal honours there pursued his studies still further at Rome. High expectations were formed of him when he exhibited in 1827 'The Death of Caesar," ' a work manifesting earnest thought, and a con- scientious handling of the facts of history. This is now preserved in the Louvre. Having shown himself in this and other works a vigorous painter, capable of seizing a subject with a masterly grasp, and having also in the region of portrait painting proved himself an artist of no common merit, he eventually dissipated his talents in the production
- of a series of empty oflttcial pictures painted by
order of Louis Philippe. He died in Paris in 1865. The Bordeaux Museum has a portrait of Henri Fonfrede by him ; that of Lyons, a ' Scene in the Deluge ' ; that of Rouen, ' Boissy-d'Anglas saluting the head of Firaud.'
COURTEYS, Jean, an enamel painter of Limoges, who died in 1586, was possibly a younger brother of Pierre Courteys. To him are ascribed the numerous works signed /. C., but M. Darcel is inclined to believe that these are by Jean de Court.
COURTEYS, Martial, a painter in enamel, who was working at Limoges in 1579-80, was distin- guished by his vivid colouring. Until lately he was known onlj' by a round dish with ' Moses striking the Rock,' formerly in the Debruge Col- lection, and now in that of Mr. Addington. He belonged to the school of Jean Courteys, and was perhaps his son.
COURTEYS, Pierre, one of the best enamel painters of Limoges, and an excellent designer and colourist, was probably a disciple of Pierre Rey- mond. Tlie dates affixed to his works range from 1550 to 1568. In 1559 he executed for the facade of the chiteau of Madrid, built by Francis I. and Henry II. in the Bois de Boulogne, near Paris, twelve oval medallions cf the Virtues and the gods of Olympus, with figures the size of life. Nine of these are now in the Hotel de Cluny, and three are in England. They are the largest enamels which have ever been made at Limoges. Courteys is supposed to have died in 1602. Many of his works are in the Louvre.
COURTIN, Jacques FRANgois, a French historical painter, was bom at Sens in 1672. He was a pupil of Louis de Boullongne, and painted the ' niai ' offered to the cathedral of Notre-Dame by the goldsmiths of Paris in 1707, the subject being 'St. Paul preaching at Troas.' He died in Paris in
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