Eugène Fromentin

Eugène Samuel Auguste Fromentin, born October 24, 1820 in La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime), where he died August 27, 1876, is a French painter and writer. He is one of the major representatives of orientalist painting. He is the son of Pierre-Samuel-Toussaint Fromentin-Dupeux (1786-1867), doctor and amateur painter, and Françoise-Jenny Billotte (1797-1867). After a brilliant schooling, Eugène Fromentin went to Paris in November 1839 where he obtained a law degree at the beginning of 1843. His father then gave him authorization to enter the studio of the painter Jean-Charles Rémond which he soon left for that of the landscaper Louis-Nicolas Cabat. In 1846, without the knowledge of his family, he visited Algeria with two friends and was thus able to fill his notebooks with sketches of the landscapes and inhabitants of North Africa, thereby joining the movement of Orientalism. Like Théophile Gautier, he had been fascinated by Prosper Marilhat's submissions to the Paris Salon of 1844. Fromentin sent three paintings to the Salon of 1847, accepted unanimously: Farm near La Rochelle, Mosque near Algiers and the Gorges de la Chiffa, then five paintings at the Salon of 1849, including a second version of Women of Algiers. He then obtained a second class award. Fromentin exhibited eleven paintings at the Salon of 1850, as well as in 1857, then participated regularly between 1859 (year of his 1st class medal) and 1869, as well as in 1872 and 1876. At the end of 1852, he carried out wit…