Claude-Marie Dubufe

1790 – 1864

French painter, part of a family of artists, father of Edouard Dubufe. 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; Musée Calvet, Avignon), 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 (National Gallery, London), of which the most famous, Memories and Regrets (Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena), were widely known through many engraved versions. His subjects were at first classical, and then scriptural, but his reputation rests chiefly on his portraits, of which he produced a large number. He was the last representative of the school of David.

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