Courbet
GUSTAVE (kör-bā'), a French painter; born in Ornans, Franche- Comté, June 10, 1819. In 1839 he was sent to study law in Paris, but turned toward art. In 1841 he took to landscape work, painting in the forest of Fontainebleau. In 1844 he began to exihibit at the Salon; and his works created a great sensation when shown in the Salon of 1850. His hunting scenes and animal subjects are especially vigorous and spirited. In 1869 he accepted the Cross of the Order of St. Michael from the King of Bavaria, and after the revolution of 1870 he was appointed Director of the Fine Arts. In the following year he joined the Commune, and was concerned in the destruction of the Vendôme Column (May 16), for which, in the following September, he was sentenced to six months' imprisonment, and to be fined for its restoration, his pictures being sold in 1877 toward that purpose. On his release he retired to Vevey, in Switzerland, where he died, Dec. 31, 1877.