Nicolae Grigorescu - Romanian painter - Biography

Nicolae Grigorescu is the first of the founders of modern Romanian painting, followed by Ion Andreescu and Ştefan Luchian, having become a symbol for the young generations of artists who, during the first decades of the 20th century, were striving to identify and bring to light the profoundly characteristic values of Romanian spirituality.

Nicolae Grigorescu was born in the Pitaru village (Dâmboviţa County), as sixth child of Ion and Ruxandra Grigorescu. In 1843, when his father died, the family moved to Bucharest, in the Brickmakers' Quarter, in an aunt's house.
After an early apprenticeship (1848-1850) in the workshop of the Czech miniaturist and church painter Anton Chladek (1794-1882), he painted icons for the church in Băicoi (Prahova County) and for Căldăruşani Monastery. In 1856 he achieved the historical composition Michael dropping the standard, which he presented to Prince Barbu Ştirbei, alongside a petition by means of which he requested financial aid for his studies. In 1856-1857 he painted the new church of Zamfira Monastery (Prahova County), then, until 1861, the church of Agapia Monastery. Upon the intervention of Mihail Kogalniceanu, who appreciated the quality of his painting, he was granted a scholarship to study in Paris.

In the autumn of 1861, young Grigorescu left for Paris, where he was admitted to the School of Fine Arts, attending Sébastien Cornu's workshop (1804-1870), where he was a fellow student of Auguste Renoir (1841-1919). Being aware of the gaps in his own artistic instruction, he would study drawing and composition in the first place. However, he would soon leave this workshop and, attracted by the artistic outlooks of the Barbizon School, he would settle down in this place, achieving his pictorial education by assimilating the experience of such artists as Jean-François Millet (1814-1875), Camille Corot (1796-1875), Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) and Théodore Rousseau (1812-1867). Influenced by this artistic environment, Grigorescu was concerned about acquiring certain innovating means of artistic expression, in the atmosphere of the cult for plein-air painting, which prepares the close Impressionistic advent.