Dupré, Jules (1811–1889)

French painter. He became one of the leading spirits of the Barbizon School, inspired by John Constable (Dupré visited England) and the Dutch 17th-century landscape painters. His Crossing the Bridge (Wallace Collection, London) is typical.

Dupré was born in Nantes, and worked first in his father's and later in his uncle's china factory. He belonged to the Romantic school of landscape painters, and painted nature best in its tempestuous moods. He travelled widely in France but his best paintings are of the forest of Fontainebleau and of the sea and storms, of which The Headland (Glasgow Art Gallery) is an example.