Rene Princeteau

Hunting scene
Oil on parquet panel
Signed lower left
Dimensions: 16 x 22 cm
With frame: 34 x 40 cm
Sold.

This hunting scene with brushed hounds, of an alert quality, is characteristic of the work of René Princeteau, known for the agility of his touch which translates so well the movement and the sensation of speed and lightness of the horse and its rider. .

Coming from a family of wealthy notables who owned castles and vineyards, René Princeteau was deaf from birth. He studied at the Institute for Deaf Youth in Paris. After taking sculpture lessons in Bordeaux, he studied in 1865 at the School of Fine Arts in Paris, under the direction of Auguste Dumont.

Friend of Alphonse de Toulouse-Lautrec, he became his first master in 1871. Let us quote from the exhibition catalog of the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition of 2019-2020, “Raised in a family where we indulged in horse riding and hunting, Toulouse-Lautrec drew horses from childhood. We know that his master René Princeteau was very interested in the photographs of Muybridge breaking down the gallop of a horse and we can therefore imagine that his pupil looked at them passionately. This ability to capture movement and speed finds another expression when living in Montmartre, Lautrec is caught up in the whirlwind of nightlife whose feverish dances he chooses to express. »

René Princeteau exhibited busts and genre paintings at the Salon des Artistes Français from 1868. He rose to fame with his paintings of horses at the Salon of 1885.

He produced numerous paintings of hounds and races, as well as landscapes and equestrian portraits. In 1883, Princeteau left Paris for the Libournais where he originated. This period marks the beginning of his large compositions celebrating rural life. He settled in the castle of Pontus near Fronsac.

René Princeteau is considered one of the masters of hunting and horse painting.

Bibliography :

. cat. of exp. Princeteau gentleman , seven catalogs published on the occasion of the René Princeteau retrospective at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Libourne from June 15, 2007 to October 3, 2009, Le Festin, Bordeaux

Museums :

. Paris (Petit Palais Museum); museums of fine arts in Bordeaux, Montauban.