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Renault, Charles Edmond (1829-1905)
| 1829 | 1857 | 1873 | 1892 | 1905 |
| Born in Paris | First Salon | Paris canals | Honfleur | Died |
Pupil of Flers, Corot and Rousseau · Member of the Société des Artistes Français · Dated canvases from 1869 to 1892
A listed artist
Renault trained under Flers, Corot and Théodore Rousseau, the three men who between them invented French plein-air landscape. He is recorded in the Bénézit Dictionary of Artists and his canvases come up regularly at auction in France and Germany.
No compiled biography of him exists, and that silence is exactly what makes him available. A signed canvas by a pupil of Corot and Rousseau, in the full Barbizon manner, at a level the same training would not permit under a better-documented name.
What to look for
He paints water, and the land beside it. Canal banks around Paris, wooded banks with small figures, cattle in pasture, and in 1892 a flock at Honfleur, signed, dated and located. He was sixty-three and still working from the motif.
The light is diffused and silvery, with almost no hard shadows, and a tree usually anchors one side and lets the rest of the picture recede. Canvases are signed Edmond Renault or E. Renault in a lower corner, often with the date.
Women by the River, the canvas in our collection
Women by the River. The tree is Rousseau, drawn as a structure and holding the left edge. The light is Corot, no shadow anywhere, the far bank dissolving into vapour.
Signed oil on canvas · 9 × 14 in (23 × 36 cm) · ornate carved gilt frame
View this paintingIn this gallery
| The Barbizon School | Movement | |
| Adolphe Félix Cals | Biography | |
| Animated Landscapes | Guide |
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Original works from our own collection, sourced in France, professionally packed and fully tracked. Over 1,100 paintings sold since 2017.
Biographical information compiled from the Bénézit Dictionary of Artists and from published auction and trade records. Photograph and description of the painting: GalerieClub Fine Art.
