Bazille, Frédéric, 1841–70, early French impressionist painter. He abandoned medical school to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, where he met and became friends with Monet, Renoir, and other painters. Wealthier than many fellow artists, Bazille generously shared his studio with his two closest friends. During the 1860s he painted outdoors with Monet, adapting some of his friend's style while also not abandoning more traditional academic painting techniques. He showed promise in his sensitive treatment of color and figures in landscapes, e.g., Le Petit Jardinier (1867, Mus. of Fine Arts, Houston) and Family Reunion (1868, Musée d'Orsay, Paris), in portraits, e.g., Portrait of Renoir (1967, Musée d'Orsay), and interiors, e.g., Studio in the Rue de Furstenberg (1865, Musée Fabre, Montpellier). At the outbreak (1870) of the Franco-Prussian War he volunteered, and was killed early in the fighting.
See M. Peitcheva, Frederic Bazille: Colour Plates (2017); museum catalog by M. Hilaire and K. Jones (2017); studies by J. P. and F. D. Marandel (1978), M. Hudson Thames (1993), and M. Pitman (1998).
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