Théophile Thoré-Bürger

Etienne -Joseph- Théophile Thoré ( born June 23, 1807 in La Fleche, † April 30, 1869 in Paris), also under the name of William citizens Thoré citizens and citizens - Thoré known, was a French art historian. He also collected art and worked as a critic for the Paris Salon. Particularly significant was his rediscovery of Vermeer.

Life

The early 1830s, Théophile Thoré began to work as an art critic, in the 1840s included his criticisms far -ranging aesthetic and political aspects. He criticized conservative artists such as Jean -Auguste -Dominique Ingres, Paul Delaroche and Horace Vernet, and on the other hand praised the works of Eugène Delacroix, Théodore Rousseau and other representatives of the school of Barbizon. Together with Paul Lacroix founded Thoré 1842, the Alliance of the Arts, to promote and sell art. In addition, they gave out a handout. From 1844 to 1848 Théophile Thoré worked for the newspaper Le Constitutionnel. He was a follower of the ideas of Henri de Saint -Simon and had to go into exile in the wake of the February Revolution in 1848. At first he lived in London, then in Brussels and in Switzerland until he could return to France in 1859.

From 1855 he used the pseudonym Willem citizen when he began to focus his work on northern European art. He sighted a lot of archive material. To him, the rediscovery of Vermeer is attributed. In addition, he also contributed to the knowledge of other Dutch artists of the 17th century such as Frans Hals at. Furthermore, he published museum catalogs and papers on English and Spanish school. The French Baroque art Thoré criticized as too much influenced by Italian art. He was of the opinion they do not stand for the national identity. Instead, he praised the naturalism of Dutch art of the 17th century and supported representative of realism such as Gustave Courbet, Jean -François Millet and the Impressionists Claude Monet and Pierre -Auguste Renoir. In addition, he recognized as one of the first Édouard Manet's the importance in the Salon of 1868. In the 1860s, Théophile Thoré acquired the Vermeer painting Standing virginal, Young lady with string of pearls and Seated virginal. The sale of his collection at the Hotel Drouot in 1892 were sold these images in several important museums and collections.