Self-Portrait

1858

Meets James McNeill Whistler at the Louvre

In 1858 Fantin-Latour met the American painter James McNeill Whistler at the Louvre; Whistler became his friend and encouraged him to come to London.

1859

Meets Gustave Courbet

In 1859 Fantin-Latour met Gustave Courbet and worked in his studio for the next two years. According to other accounts, he only briefly frequented Courbet's studio in 1861; a painting from this period shows him with the painter and caricaturist Oulevay.

1859

The Salon of 1859 rejects his self-portrait

The Salon of 1859 rejected his first submissions, including one of his self-portraits. Fantin-Latour then began exhibiting with his friend Édouard Manet and the future Impressionists Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Claude Monet.

1859–1881

Stays in London at Whistler's invitation

At Whistler's invitation Fantin-Latour stayed in London several times between 1859 and 1881 and found many admirers in England for his still lifes of flowers and fruit. Whistler introduced him to his brother-in-law Francis Seymour Haden and the engraver Edwin Edwards; it was in London that Fantin learned etching.

1860s

Still lifes bring recognition in England

In the 1860s Fantin-Latour cultivated the still life, a genre that would play a capital role in his career. His flowers and fruit found recognition in England, while in France they were said to be practically unknown during his lifetime; his English patrons and dealers Edwin and Ruth Edwards advised him to use simple vases and table tops to show off his gift for rendering texture and colour.