Auguste Ravier Biography
François-Auguste Ravier (1814 - 1895) was a famous French painter.
Initially, he painted views of the surroundings of Lyon and then of the city of Paris.
Although he can be considered self-taught, Ravier learned painting techniques thanks to the guidance of Théodore Caruelle d'Aligny and from the observation of his painter friends, including Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot and Charles-François Daubigny, who represented one of the reference figures for the painters of the Barbizon School.
Ravier visited Italy several times and spent a year on the peninsula in 1840. During this period, in Rome, he met Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Hippolyte Flandrin. It was also in Rome that Ravier met Corot, with whom he established a friendship.
In 1850, Ravier settled in Crémieu (Isère) and from 1865 moved permanently to Morestel. A group of artists, known as the Morestel School, formed around him.
Among his students was François Guiguet, whom Ravier recommended to Michel Dumas, a teacher at the École nationale des beaux-arts de Lyon, who had trained as a pupil of Ingres.
Ravier influenced the painting of his time with his innovative color mixing technique, which made him a precursor of Impressionism and Divisionism. His ability to create plays of light and shadow, thickening colors into precious atmospheres of light, enchanted Antonio Fontanesi, who considered him a master.
Ravier died in 1895 in Morestel.
