02.05.23 06:35 PM

b paris, 1790; d la celle-saint-cloud, 24 april 1864). his father, a chef d’institution , educated him for a career in the diplomatic service. at the age of 19 he was nominated vice-consul and was on the point of leaving for america when david (who had given dubufe some instruction) persuaded his father to allow him to train as a painter. dubufe received no further support from his father and paid for his lessons with david by playing the violin in an orchestra. he made his salon début in 1810 with a roman allowing his family to die of hunger rather than touch a sum of money entrusted to his keeping ; like achilles protecting iphigenia (salon of 1812) and christ calming the tempest (salon of 1819), this picture has disappeared. his earliest surviving composition, apollo and cyparissus (1821; avignon, mus. calvet), exhibited in 1822, is elegantly mannered in a style inspired by girodet but did not appeal much to the critics. he then painted the first of a number of sentimental genre pictures in the manner of the surprise (exh. ra 1828; london, n.g.), of which the most famous, souvenirs and regrets (pasadena, ca, norton simon mus.), were widely known through many engraved versions