Gustave Courbet {koor-bay'}, b. June 10, 1819, d. Dec. 31, 1877, was the foremost realist painter of mid-19th-century France. A member of an affluent landowning family, Courbet remained close to his rural origins and frequently returned to his birthplace, Ornans, in search of subjects.

From 1837 he studied at the Royal College in Besançon, and when sent to Paris in 1840 to study law he defied his father's wishes and pursued a career as an artist. During the 1840s, Courbet produced many canvases in a typically romantic style, including figures of sleeping girls and some complacent self-portraits. In 1844 he exhibited Self-Portrait with a Black Dog (1842; Museum of the Petit Palais, Paris) at the Paris Salon. ...