A Rest in a Forest Glade

013532    Narcisse DIAZ DE LA PEÑA [1807-1876] A Rest in a Forest Glade
oil on panel, 22,6 x 16,6 cm /40,3x35 cm, signed l.r.: „DIAZ”

Narcisse DIAZ DE LA PENA [1807-1876] Diaz – French painter of Spanish origin. His peculiar name „Diaz de la Peña” meaning „days of suffering” ambiguously denoted his early days of life. Orphaned in early childhood, the artist had his leg amputated after a snake bite. Those misfortunes and the lack of formal education did not erase his artistic ambition. Charmed by the painting of Antonio da Correggio and Eugène Delacroix, he copied masterpieces displayed in the Louvre and painted small romantic compositions. Diaz found employment as a porcelain painter in Parisian manufacture of Arsène Gillet, where he met Jules Dupré. It was Dupré who introduced the painter to the Forests of Fontainebleau. His close encounter with Thèodore Rousseau and the Barbizon School paved the way of his further development in the field of landscape painting. Diaz frequently exhibited his works at the Salon of Paris, in 1851 he was favoured with a distinction.