Charles Daubigny (1817 - 1878) Luminist Pastel of a landscape. Signed lower left. Sight Size: 9.5 x 23 inches. Daubigny's earliest artistic experiences included the decoration of boxes and clocks and, at the age of 17, restoring paintings at the Louvre under the direction of Granet. His training was largely informal; his studies in the well-respected atelier of the artist Sentie were interrupted by a year-long painting sojourn in Italy with his friend and fellow artist Henri Mignan. In 1840, he spent a brief period under the tutelage of the academician Paul Delaroche.His earliest successes, as well as a means of financial support, were his etchings and illustrations. After winning his first Salon prize in 1848, the French government commissioned an etching from him after Claude Lorrain's Abreuvoir. Daubigny's first love however, was landscape painting and his fascination with water was evident judging from his salon entries of the late 40's and 50's. Daubigny, unlike many of his contemporaries with whom he is closely associated due to their mutual concern with the study of nature, spent little time in the region of Barbizon. He traveled extensively in France, as well as to Spain and England. In 1852, Daubigny met Corot, and a long and enduring friendship, which included many painting excursions together throughout France and Switzerland, began. The painter was most drawn, however, to the landscape of Valmondois, the place of his childhood and the countryside of Auvers, where the artist would eventually make his home.It was Auvers in 1857 that Daubigny launched his studio boat, the Botin, from which he would produce his most memorable and popular paintings of the Oise. From this time, a difference could be seen in Daubigny's work. His ability to capture the simple beauty of the countryside was unchanged, but his brushstroke became shorter and more confident.