Jongkind, Johan Barthold (1819-1891)

Dutch painter. He was active mainly in France, his studies of the Normandy coast showing a keen observation of the natural effects of light. He worked closely with the painters of the Barbizon School and influenced the Impressionist painter Monet.

His favourite painting grounds were Paris and the region round Le Havre, where he met and greatly impressed both Boudin and Monet. His atmospheric landscapes and fresh and broken colour (in watercolours as well as oils) heralded the spirit and technique of Impressionism (though Jongkind, unlike the Impressionists, always did his oil paintings in a studio).

The Barbizon painters (with whom he exhibited) and some critics, notably the de Goncourt brothers, were quick to see his merits, but he lived in poverty, eventually becoming subject to persecution mania.

Born at Latrop, he was a pupil of Schelflout in The Hague. He left Holland early, going first to Düsseldorf, then to Paris, where he studied under Isabey. He afterwards led a wandering career spent mainly in France, though he returned to Holland from time to time.

He is often considered to belong to the French School.