Huet, Paul

Paul Huet (French pronunciation: [pɔl ɥɛ]; 3 October 1803 – 8 January 1869) was a French painter and printmaker born in Paris. He studied under Gros and Guerin. He met the English painter Richard Parkes Bonington in the studio of Gros, where he studied irregularly from 1819 to 1822. Bonington's example influenced Huet to reject neoclassicism and instead paint landscapes based on close observation of nature. The British landscape paintings exhibited in the Salon of 1824 were a revelation to Huet, who said of Constable's work: "It was the first time perhaps that one felt the freshness, that one saw a luxuriant, verdant nature, without blackness, crudity or mannerism." Huet's subsequent work combined emulation of the English style with inspiration derived from Dutch and Flemish old masters such as Rubens, Jacob van Ruisdael, and Meindert Hobbema. He exhibited in the Salon for the first time at the Salon of 1827, when one of the eight paintings he submitted was accepted by the jury. Afterwards he showed at the Salon regularly, and won the support of many important critics. Among his champions was Eugène Delacroix, whom Huet had met In November 1822. Less enthusiastic was Étienne-Jean Delécluze...