Henri Fantin-Latour

Henri Fantin-Latour (January 14, 1836 - August 25, 1904) was a French painter and lithographer.

Born Henri Jean Theodore Fantin-Latour in Grenoble, Rhone-Alpes, France, he studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and although he was painting at the time of the Impressionists, he created his own unique realistic style. He would be best known for his flower paintings and group portraits of many of the contemporary Parisian artists and writers who were his friends. His work would strongly influence the future symbolist movement.

It was Whistler who brought attention to Fantin in England at a time when French Impressionist painting, or any painting having dealings with the impressionists, was being overlooked by the Parisian art community.

In addition to his paintings, Fantin-Latour created ingenious lithographs demonstrating the music of some of the great classical composers.

In 1876, Henri Fantin-Latour married a fellow painter, Victoria Dubourg, after which he spent his summers on the country estate of his wife's family at Bure, Orne in Basse-Normandie, where he died.

He was interred in the Cimetiere du Montparnasse, Paris, France.

Today, one of his paintings can sell for as much as US$2.5 million.

He has a very nice painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Still life with flowers and fruit.