Camille Pissarro

Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro (10 July 1830, Saint Thomas-12 November 1903, Paris) was a French painter, one of the first and most consistent representatives of impressionism. Camille Pissarro was born on July 10, 1830 on the island of St. Thomas (West Indies), in a bourgeois family. His father was a Sephardic Jew, Abram Pissarro, and his mother was Rachel Manzano-Pommier, a native of the Dominican Republic. Until the age of 12, Camille lived in the West Indies, then, at the age of 25, he and his family moved to Paris. After finishing school, he went back to Saint-Thomas, as well as to Venezuela, where, together with his friend, the Danish artist Melbu, he mastered the art of painting in Caracas. In 1855, he finally returned to France. From 1855 to 1861, he studied at the École des Beaux-arts and at the Académie Suis in Paris. His teachers were Camille Corot, Gustave Courbet, and Charles-Francois Daubigny. He took private lessons from I. Danyan. The main subjects of his works during this period are rural landscapes, as well as views of Paris. During the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871, Pissarro moved to London. During this time, many of his works left in Paris were destroyed by German soldiers who lived in his house. Only forty paintings have been preserved.