Charles François Pécrus genre scene elegant women

like Auguste Renoir, in Limoges, but 15 years earlier and "by accident" (during a theatrical tour by his father, who was an actor), Charles Pécrus had to earn his living early, working for the Ponts-et-Chaussées in Paris. His talent for drawing enabled him to attend the École des Beaux-Arts, where he was taught by genre painters such as Fichel, and went to the Louvre to copy the great classical painters. It was with genre scenes that he began exhibiting at the Salon des Artistes Français in 1857, and was now able to make a living from his painting. In 1865, his submission to the Salon, Le lendemain des noces, was bought for 2,000F (a high price for the time) by Napoleon III. The precision of his drawing, the accuracy of his tones, the graceful attitudes of his figures can rival the qualities of the greatest Flemish and French painters of the 17th and 18th centuries, from whom he obviously drew inspiration, but in an original way.

From 1865, the proximity of Eugène Boudin, who took up residence at 31 rue Fontaine, while Pécrus lived at 42 (where he remained until his death in 1907), may explain their friendship and Pécrus's new and growing interest in plein-air painting and, in particular, seascapes. Their association with Jongkind also seems to have contributed to this evolution, which became more marked after 1870. Pécrus painted on the Normandy coast, in the Barbizon region, on the Mediterranean, in Venice and in Holland. He sometimes painted the same subjects or sites as Boudin, but his style was very different (less sweeping panoramas, less choppy brushwork), and closer to that of Jongkind. But it wasn't until around 1885 that he abandoned genre painting almost entirely. Under the influence of the Impressionists, his style became freer (less sharply delineated contours, use of separate patches of color), without sacrificing accuracy of drawing, correctness of tone or elegance of composition.

He exhibited at the Salon for the last time in 1905, and continued to paint until his death in 1907, after a life of modest labor which, away from the coteries and the Schools, simply enabled him to earn a living for himself and his family, in the absence of the fame (sometimes ephemeral...) of others.
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