The Barbizon School (1830-1870): Expanding the Landscape of the Modern Art Market

Abstract

During the 1830s to the 1870s, a cohort of French artists developed new approaches to landscape painting and became known collectively as the Barbizon School. This informal group of artists were proponents of an innovative way of painting in which nature was the central subject of their artworks. Moreover, nature was depicted without the classical idealization or polished refinement required by the French Academy at the time. Barbizon artists were also the catalysts for changes in how art was sold during the 19th century, paving the way for an open art market system that spread across the globe and continues unchanged to this day. Using Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875) as a case study, I establish the ways in which the Barbizon School forged new stylistic and economic possibilities for later modern art movements, most prominently Impressionism, outside the purview of the French Academy. I also highlight the ways in which the Barbizon artists and their supporters contributed to the formation of a new art market founded upon an interconnected network of producers, consumers, and distributors.