Old Schoolhouse, French Genre, Theophile E. Duverger

Theophile-Emmanuel Duverger was born in Bordeaux in 1821, and from 1846-1882 sent many of his genre paintings to the Salons of Paris.  He won honours for his work in 1861, 1863, and 1865.

The artist was mostly self-taught, gaining experience through observations of nature and inspiration from the grand painters that he examined in museums.  Duverger has been deemed “a specialist” in school or vestry scenes.  He was a compatriot of Paul Seignac’s, another 19th-century genre painter.