NARCISSE BERCHÈRE PAINTINGS FOR SALE & BIOGRAPHY

NARCISSE BERCHÈRE

French, 1819-1891

BIOGRAPHY
Narcisse Berchère was a pupil of Jean Charles Joseph Rémond at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He "exhibited for the first time at the Salon of 1843, where he was well received by the public. the work found sufficient favor with his artist peers that the journal L'Artiste commissioned a reproduction of his 1844 Salon entry, Landscape with a Scene Drawn from Gil Blas, his first lithograph. It was not until the Exposition Universelle of 1855 that Berchère's work was recognized with a medal; thereafter, from 1859 onwards, the medals came thick and fast - including a bronze at the 1878 Exposition Universelle and a Légion d'Honneur knighthood in 1870. He was one of the founder members of the Musée d'Estampes (Museum of Engraving) in 1875.

Berchère traveled widely throughout France (notably to Provence and Fontainebleau) before venturing farther afield to Spain in 1847 and, in 1849 and 1850, to Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, Greece and the Peloponnese, and Venice. He returned to Egypt six years later, this time in the company of Jean-Léon Gérôme, Belley and Bartholdi. In 1860, Ferdinand de Lesseps selected him as the official artist for the Suez Canal Company; Berchère spent six months in the region and was able to observe at first hand the douars (tented settlements) characteristic of the region. In 1863, he wrote Le désert de Suez: cinq moins dans l'isthme (Suez: Five Months in the Desert Isthmus), an account of his impressions. He travelled to Egypt once more, in 1869, this time again in the company of Gérôme and also with Fromentin, Tournemine, Guillaume, Charles Blanc and Philippe de Chennevières.

Berchère appears to have been influenced more by painters of the Barbizon School than by his immediate mentors. His earlier landscapes tended to be dark and sober, whereas his palette became richer and brighter once he had visited Provence and the Middle East. Although widely regarded as an Orientalist, Berchère never became obsessed with details of Islamic costume or architecture; instead, he opted for striking patches of color applied liberally and expressively.” [Benezit, Dictionary of Artists, Paris, 2006, vol. 2, p. 205]"

Museum Collections:
British Museum, London
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Musée Anne de Beaujeu, Moulins
Musée Camille Pissarro, Pontoise
Musée de Provins et du Prvinois, Provins
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Bernay
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Mulhouse
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Orléans
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rennes
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tours
Musée du Luxembourg, Paris
Musée Municipale d’Étampes, Essonne
Musée National des Beaux-Arts, Algiers
Musée National Gustave Moreau, Paris
National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin

Mark Murray Fine Paintings is a New York gallery specializing in buying and selling 19th century and early 20th century artwork.

Please contact us if you are interested in selling your Narcisse Berchère paintings or other artwork from the 19th century and early 20th century.