César DE COCK(1823 – 1904) On the banks of the Epte

César De Cock

Family relaxation on the banks of the Epte, near Giverny, dated 1871. An impressionist landscape treated with finesse and talent by Belgian landscape painter César de Cock .

Oil on canvas
Signed and dated lower right
Dimensions: 44 x 62 cm
With frame: 73 x 93 cm

Price upon request

César de Cock, a sensitive, nature-loving painter.

Nature dominates César De Cock’s paintings. His landscapes reflect his pronounced taste for greenery, particularly the forest.
Here, the artist plunges us into a wooded landscape where a river flows by. A family has come to enjoy themselves. The father is fishing, while the mother and children enjoy the surroundings.

On the banks of the Epte, a landscape of impressionist light painted in a cameo of greens suggesting harmony and calm.

This undergrowth landscape in shades of green is very peaceful and relaxing. César de Cock’s treatment of light and reflections in the water is particularly talented.

Biography

César De Cock, born in Ghent, was a Belgian painter and engraver active in France, and a member of the Barbizon School.

Son of a small tailor in Ghent, younger brother of Xavier De Cock and a pupil at the Ghent School of Fine Arts, he devoted himself first and foremost to music and singing, before becoming deaf and devoting himself exclusively to painting. Called to France by his brother Xavier, he became a pupil of Daubigny and Louis Français.

A painter of genre scenes, still lifes, animals, landscapes and watercolors, César De Cock befriended Corot, Rousseau, Diaz and Troyon.

Soon the De Cocks, hard workers and good companions, were admitted to Paris by official exhibition organizers and dealers alike, as if they were native Frenchmen.

Art critic Bourgeat noted that “César is to Corot what Xavier is to Daubigny”. The former is finer and more poetic than the latter, while the latter is firmer, warmer and more vigorous than the former. Edmond About would say that Daubigny and Corot should see in César and Xavier De Cock “not copyists but inspired comrades in arms”. Corot called César “his youngest son”. Théophile Gautier devoted one of his sonnets to La cressonnière, a painting by César De Cock that attracted considerable attention at the 1886 Salon.
He spent a short period in Paris, then moved to Gasny in the Eure region. He regularly took part in the Salons, notably in Paris, where he won medals in 1867 and 1869.
His travels took him to Barbizon from 1860, Veules-les-Roses, the Meudon woods and the Lys region.
In 1880, he settled permanently in Ghent, but frequently painted in and around the banks of the Lys.

The influence of his master Edme-François Daubigny and Louis Français can be seen in his landscapes, as well as Hobbema’s taste for forests with their nuanced greens, while drawing closer to Impressionism.

César De Cock influenced many painters, including Vincent van Gogh, who explicitly named him in letters to his brother Theo.

In 1900, he was appointed Officer of the Order of Leopold.

Many of his works were exhibited around the world, including in New York and London. The Photo of César De Cock by Ferdinand Mulnier is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

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