Excerpt from The Barbizon School of Painters: Corot, Rousseau, Diaz, Millet, Daubigny, Etc The pictures painted by the group of French artists who lived around Barbizon, have been for many years the admiration of the artistic world. But very little has yet been done to tell their story, and it is the aim of this volume to set forth the biographies of these artists, illustrated with such representations of their works as will give an adequate conception of their methods and achievements. Personal knowledge of these artists I have had none, and for this reason it has been possible, perhaps, to take a less partial view than those writers - nearly all Frenchmen - who have written articles, pamphlets, or monographs on the artists, which have been chiefly eulogies, and at the best have either been brief or unsatisfactory. To those who have not yet felt the influence of the painters of the Barbizon School, the claim of impartiality may appear, in certain instances, somewhat questionable, but I have carefully avoided extreme commendation, and the praise accorded is believed in every case to be fully deserved. The chief interest of this book will by many be found in the illustrations, and to these I have given special attention. In a very few instances I have had to be content with rather weak representations of characteristic or epoch-marking pictures, but only because no better were obtainable. In other cases no apology is required, while grateful thanks are due to the owners of pictures and copyrights who have so kindly given me assistance. Mr. J. S. Forbes has been liberal as well as courteous in the permissions granted. Mr. Alexander Young has allowed me to reproduce several of his pictures, and many other collectors, both in Europe and America, have granted requests made to them. I have especially to mention: - Sir John Day; Heer Mesdag and Heer Tersteeg, The Hague; Mr. R. T. Hamilton Bruce, Edinburgh; Mr. T. G. Arthur, Glasgow; Mr. Charles Roberts, Leeds; Mr. Forbes-White, Dundee; Mr. G. N. Stevens, London; Mr. G. A. Drummond, Montreal, and Mr. G. I. Senev, New York. Messrs. Boussod, Valadon & Co., by whose courtesy the whole work has been prepared, have kindly aided me; Messrs. J. S. Virtue & Co., Messrs. Cassell & Co., M. Durand-Ruel, M. Baschet, and M. Obach have also given me valuable assistance. For the use of other illustrations not accorded to me by the persons and firms named, I have arranged for the copyrights, and to their owners also I have to acknowledge my obligation. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.