Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes

Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes was a French painter who played an important role in raising the status of landscape painting. Born in Toulouse in 1750, he became known for grand, carefully composed classical landscapes, often peopled with figures from myth or history. But his most admired works today are the small, fresh oil sketches he made outdoors, directly from nature.

Those quick studies of skies, rooftops, and Italian light look strikingly modern and pointed the way toward later outdoor painting. He also wrote an influential treatise urging artists to study nature firsthand. Valenciennes is remembered both as a champion of noble landscape and as an early advocate of the direct outdoor sketching that would flower in the Impressionists.