Paul Trouillebert
Paul Désiré Trouillebert (1831–1900) was a French painter linked to the Barbizon School. He worked in several genres, including landscapes, portraits, still lifes, and Orientalist scenes.
Born and died in Paris, Trouillebert studied with Ernest Hébert and Charles Jalabert. He first exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1865, and by the late 1860s he began focusing more on landscapes. His 1869 painting Au Bois Rossignolet was well received and marked his move toward nature painting. His landscapes often resemble the later work of Corot, though Trouillebert had his own distinct style. A famous forgery incident involved a landscape sold as a Corot because the signature had been altered.
Trouillebert did not limit himself to one subject. He painted portraits, still lifes, and Orientalist pieces, including nudes in Eastern settings. One notable work is Servante du harem (The Harem Servant Girl), a half-nude in an ancient Egyptian–Greco-Roman style, now in Nice’s Musée des Beaux-Arts. His painting The Bathers (1884) was well received at the Paris Salon.
He was known for small still lifes featuring violets and for creating calling cards or “cartes de visite” as gifts for patrons. These tiny works became part of his distinctive practice, and many survive in collections today.
Over his career, Trouillebert produced more than 1,200 works. They appear in major museums and public collections, including the Musée d’Orsay, the Hermitage, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A 1901 posthumous exhibition in Paris showcased many of his works, reflecting his varied career.
Today, scholars continue to study his output, noting that his landscapes, portraits, and genre scenes reveal a flexible artist who explored multiple subjects while maintaining a recognizable personal style.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 07:28 (CET).