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Auguste Anastasi
Portrait of Auguste Anastasi by Michel Berthaud (1866)
Born	Auguste-Paul-Charles Anastasi 15 November 1820 Paris, France
Died	15 March 1889 (1889-03-16) (aged 68) Paris, France
Resting place	Père Lachaise Cemetery
Nationality	France
Occupations	Painter Lithographer
Known for	Landscape painting
Awards	Knight of the Legion of Honour (1868)
Signature

Auguste Anastasi (15 November 1820 – 15 March 1889) was a French landscape painter and lithographer.

Early life and education

Auguste-Paul-Charles Anastasi was born on 15 November 1820 in Paris, France. His father, Paul Joseph Anastasi, an Italian artist with Greek roots, came to Paris from Italy in 1806. He later became completely blind at 32 years old and was admitted to the hospice at Quinze-Vingts National Ophthalmology Hospital. His mother was the daughter of Nicolas Leblanc, making Auguste his grandson.

Anastasi was a pupil of French painters Eugène Delacroix, Paul Delaroche, and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. Delacroix introduced him to half-tones, while Corot inspired his success in landscape art in the style of the Barbizon School.

Career

He began to enter his work at the Paris Salon and was awarded with many medals. Anastasi earned a second-class medal for painting in 1848. In 1849, he turned his efforts to lithography, notably creating illustrations for L'Artiste. He won a third-class medal for lithography in 1852. By creating many lithographs, he helped publicize the work of Jules Dupré and other 1830s artists.

Working in the Paris area, Anastasi's artistic endeavors took him to Normandy, Italy, Holland, and Brittany. Throughout his career, he drew inspiration from the Forest of Fontainebleau, his Parisian surroundings, Holland's landscapes, Rome's monuments, and Italy's hills.

Inspired by the works of Ruysdael, Hobbema, and Van der Neer, Auguste Anastasi sought to study Holland in the late 1850s. He fully embraced the techniques of the great masters of the Netherlands. He produced a lithograph titled Bank of the Meuse at Zwindrecht (Holland) which was exhibited at the Salon of 1857.

In 1861, Théophile Gautier compared him to Van der Neer, noting his mastery of Dutch views despite his Italian name, and predicted his works would match Van der Neer's value in 50 years.

Anastasi, suffering from a prolonged illness, spent a year in Italy in 1862 to restore his health. While a sale fetched 760 francs for a single painting and included drawings, many works were sold through his network of acquaintances. He sold 15 paintings and 25 drawings and aquatints to cover the travel expense.

His travels to Rome, Naples, and rural Italy resulted in Terrace of the Villa Pamphili, among other paintings. First exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1864, the painting is now held at the Musée du Luxembourg.

At the 1865 Salon, he showcased The Roman Forum, Setting Sun, The Banks of the Tiber, and two Roman views. He earned another second-class medal in the painting category. In 1866, Anastasi exhibited Terrace of a Convent at Rome, A View at Tivoli, and a watercolor of an Italian villa. In 1867, The Coliseum and a Brook in Autumn. In 1868, A Wash House near Naples, A Bit of the Village of Leidschendam in Holland, and a watercolor of the Winter Garden of the Princess Mathilde.

He travelled to Douarnenez, Brittany in 1868. On 12 April 1868, Anastasi was distinguished as a Knight of the Legion of Honour.

Like his father, he had struggled with failing eyesight for ten years, hindering his ability to paint. His vision problems caused him to paint irregularly, though his output was greater in his early years. Théophile Gautier described it as "He saw black butterflies dancing before his eyes, like pieces of burnt paper carried away by the wind". Anastasi went completely blind in July 1870, at the age of 50. He was mentioned in the journals of the Goncourt brothers on several occasions. Recalling his distress, the Goncourts noted, "When he became blind, the idea that, having no more money, he would be obliged to return there (hospice), he had seriously intended to kill himself".

His artist friends grouped together to organize a sale for his benefit. The auction catalog included works by Corot, N. Diaz, Jules Dupré, E. Isabey, E. Fromentin, Daubigny, Rosa Bonheur, Cabanel, Bida, Gérôme, Lami, de Curzon, Eugène Lavieille, Stevens, Bonnat, and many more. With 200 artworks gathered by 1870, the war and Siege of Paris postponed progress for a few years. The sale took place in 1872 at the Parisian Hôtel Drouot. The sale generated more than 120,000 francs after covering all expenses. He expressed his gratitude to the artists in a letter from the Municipal Health Center of Paris, dated 7 February 1872.

Once he became completely blind, he retired to the neighborhood of Batignolles in the 17th arrondissement of Paris.

In 1884, despite his blindness, he wrote a memoir on his grandfather Nicolas Leblanc, based on family papers.

Many of the landscape painter's works are in provincial museums throughout France, notably Nantes, Rennes, and Quimper.

Death

Auguste Anastasi died on 15 March 1889 in Paris, France. His death was announced in The Art Journal that year. After his passing, Anastasi left 100,000 francs in State annuities to the Académie des Beaux-Arts to establish yearly assistance for artists in financial difficulty.

Works

• Bank of the Meuse at Zwindrecht (Holland) (1857)
• Terrace at the Villa Pamfili, at Rome (1864)
• The Roman Forum (1865)
• Setting Sun (1865)
• The Banks of the Tiber (1865)
• Two Roman views in water colors (1865)
• Terrace of a Convent at Rome A View at Tivoli (1866)
• A watercolor of an Italian villa (1866)
• The Coliseum (1867)
• Brook in Autumn (1867)
• A Wash House near Naples (1868)
• A Bit of the Village of Leidschendam in Holland (1868)
• A watercolor of the Winter Garden of the Princess Mathilde (1868)

Gallery

• Works by Auguste Anastasi
• La Côte près de Pont-Aven
• Le passage du bac à Tréboul
• Terrasse de couvent en Italie
• Amsterdam le soir

References

1. Phillips, L. B. (1871). The Dictionary of Biographical Reference: Containing One Hundred Thousand Names, Together with a Classed Index of the Biographical Literature of Europe and America (p. 38). United Kingdom: S. Low, Son, & Marston.
2. ^ Belbéoch, H. (1991). Douarnenez : au bonheur des peintres: Préface de Pierre-Jakez Helias. (n.p.): FeniXX réédition numérique.
3. ^ Histoire de l'?cole fran?aise de paysage (p. 10). (n.d.). (n.p.): Рипол Классик.
4. ^ Lanthony, P. (1999). Les yeux des peintres. Switzerland: L'Age d'homme.
5. ^ Gazette anecdotique, littéraire, artistique et bibliographique. (1887). France: (n.p.).
6. ^ The Magazine of Art (p. 28). (1889). United Kingdom: Cassell, Petter & Galpin.
7. Marumo, C. (1975). Barbizon et les paysagistes du XIXe. France: FeniXX réédition numérique.
8. ^ Waters, C. E. C., Hutton, L. (1879). Artists of the Nineteenth Century and Their Works: A Handbook Containing Two Thousand and Fifty Biographical Sketches. United States: Houghton, Osgood.
9. ^ Histoire de l'?cole fran?aise de paysage. (n.d.). (n.p.): Рипол Классик.
10. Le Monde illustrâe (p. 30). (1862). France: Imp. de la Librairie Nouvelle.
11. Le magasin littéraire et scientifique (p. 448). (1889). Belgium: Siffer.
12. ^ Exhibition Catalogs, 1886-1909: 1895-1898 (p. 54). (1895). United States: (n.p.).
13. ^ L'illustration: journal universel. (1862). France: J.J. Dubochet.
14. Le monde illustré: journal hebdomadaire (p. 133). (1873). France: (n.p.).
15. Viardot, L. (1884). The Masterpieces of French Art: Illustrated, Being a Biographical History of Art in France, from the Earliest Period to and Including the Salon of 1882. United States: Gebbie & Company.
16. ^ Le correspondant (p. 1161). (1889). France: Bureaux du Correspondant.
17. Bulletin du bibliophile et du bibliothécaire (p. 334). (1870). (n.p.): Henri Leclerc.
18. Isis (p. 153). (1957). United States: Publication and Editorial Office, Department of History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania.
19. Smithsonian American Art Museum. (n.d.). August Paul Charles Anastasi. Retrieved from https://americanart.si.edu/artist/august-paul-charles-anastasi-27416

External links

Media related to Auguste Paul Charles Anastasi at Wikimedia Commons

• 1820 births
• 1889 deaths
• People from Paris
• Artists from Paris
• French landscape painters
• French painters
• French male painters
• 19th-century French painters
• French lithographers
• 19th-century lithographers
• 19th-century French lithographers