Art by Hippolyte Camille Delpy

Barbizon, Fontainebleau, Auvers, Paris, Bois-le-Roi, l’Oise, Dieppe, Honfleur, Le Havre – this list represents just a sampling of the many cities to which Hippolyte-Camille Delpy escaped in search of an idyllic landscape suitable for the subject of his paintings. Delpy’s itinerant lifestyle, typical of other landscape painters, took him throughout France and into Holland, England, and even into the United States. A landscape painter in the tradition of Barbizon artists of nineteenth-century France, Delpy had the opportunity to study under two of the most well-established landscape painters, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, and Charles-Francois Daubigny, whose individual approaches to representing nature undoubtedly supplied the young artist with a unique opportunity to learn from two artistic perspectives – one from the founding father of landscape painting, Corot; and the other, that of Daubigny, a more contemporary approach based on more realistic interpretations of the natural setting. Throughout his career, Delpy remained a disciple of nature, recording its true and realistic nature while never sacrificing his own artistic reflection.

Delpy came from a moderately wealthy family from Joigny, in the Burgundy region of France. He was born on April 6th, 1842 and spent his childhood in this city before attending primary school at St. Andre and later schooling at the College St. Jacques in Auxerre. His father, Etienne Delpy, was a pharmacist who, like many fathers who had established a well-respected family business, was interested in having his son follow in his footsteps and undertake management of the family business. Though Hippolyte had already shown a propensity towards painting, it was not until meeting the respected landscape painter Charles-Francois Daubigny, a friend of the family through Etienne’s brother-in-law, the engraver Lavoignant, that Hippolyte was more thoroughly influenced into pursuing his artistic interests. From 1847 on, Daubigny continued to spend more time with the family, even staying with them during his vacation periods.
Under the influence of Daubigny, Delpy was sent to Paris to pursue painting at the young age of sixteen. Recognizing Delpy’s precocious nature, Daubigny undertook training the artist himself, an exceptional act for an artist who rarely, if ever, trained other students. Several nights during the week, Delpy would go to Daubigny’s studio, where he would receive invaluable critiques from one of the masters of landscape painting. While Paris offered evolving artists a period of apprenticeship in one of the many ateliers, Delpy followed Daubigny to Auvers-sur-Oise where the two of them traveled along the river in Daubigny’s famous “Le Bottin”, the small boat that became Daubigny’s studio and essentially his residence for several weeks at a time.
In 1862, Delpy was called on to fulfill his military duties, which kept him occupied until July of 1863, after which point Daubigny introduced him to Corot, whose atelier along the rue Paradis Poissonnière in Paris, Delpy began to frequent. Corot was an influential figure in the Parisian art scene; one of the first artists to introduce to nineteenth century audiences, landscape painting that was, for the most part, devoid of historical narrative. Though these years working under both Corot and Daubigny were of seminal importance for establishing Delpy’s style, little is known about this period of Delpy’s life. It is not until 1869, the year of his first Salon entry, that Delpy’s name begins to be continually recognized among those of the other leading nineteenth century artists.
Apart from being accepted for the first time at the Salon, the year 1869 was marked by extensive traveling for Delpy, a pattern that had been established early on and one that would remain a consistent characteristic of his life. He divided his time between his two masters, earlier in the year joining Corot in Ville d’Avray and later returning to the company of Daubigny at Auvers, where he met several other artists, including his future father-in-law, Aman Cyboulle, a flower painter. Interspersed between these periods studying the landscape, he managed to return to Joigny to spend time with his family. Though his first Salon entry, Un Déjeuner de Carême, chez mon père (A Luncheon during Lent, at my father’s house), a still life, his experience in Corot’s studio and alongside Daubigny painting en plein air, the young artist had begun on his path to artistic success. His 1869 debut would begin a career at the Salon that spanned over 40 years.