Alfred Bruyas was an art collector and a personal friend of many important artists of his time, among them Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet

Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet was a French painter who led the Realist movement in 19th-century French painting. The Realist movement bridged the Romantic movement , with the Barbizon School and the Impressionists...

. He donated his collection to the Musée Fabre

Musée Fabre

The Musée Fabre is a museum in the southern French city of Montpellier, capital of the Hérault département.The museum was founded by François-Xavier Fabre, a Montpellier painter, in 1825. Beginning in 2003, the museum underwent a 61.2 million euro renovation, which was completed in January 2007...

, in Montpellier

Montpellier

-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....

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Born Jacques Louis Bruyas, he was the son of a wealthy banker in Montpellier. His interest in art was clear even at school. In 1840 he studied at the studio of Charles Matet, however he soon recognized the limits of his own talents and shifted his focus to the promotion and collection of contemporary art.

From 1849 to 1854 he spent most of his time in Paris. There he collected work by Louis Hector Allemand, Camille Corot, Thomas Couture

Thomas Couture

Thomas Couture was an influential French history painter and teacher. Couture taught such later luminaries of the art world as Édouard Manet, Henri Fantin-Latour, John La Farge, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, Karel Javůrek, and J-N Sylvestre.-Life:He was born at Senlis, Oise, France...

, Eugène Delacroix

Eugène Delacroix

Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school...

, Narcisse Diaz de Peña, Adrien Guignet, Adolphe Hervier, Prosper Marilhat, Edouard-Antoine Marsal, Jean-François Millet

Jean-François Millet

Jean-François Millet was a French painter and one of the founders of the Barbizon school in rural France...

, Théodore Rousseau

Théodore Rousseau

Pierre Étienne Théodore Rousseau , French painter of the Barbizon school, was born in Paris, of a bourgeois family.-Youth:At first he received a business training, but soon displayed aptitude for painting...

, Philippe-Joseph Tassaert, Marcel Verdier and Constant Troyon

Constant Troyon

Constant Troyon , French painter, was born in Sèvres, near Paris, where his father was connected with the famous manufactory of porcelain....

, but above all the work of Gustave Courbet

Gustave Courbet

Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet was a French painter who led the Realist movement in 19th-century French painting. The Realist movement bridged the Romantic movement , with the Barbizon School and the Impressionists...

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External links

• Bonjour, Monsieur Courbet!': The Bruyas Collection from the Musée Fabre, Montpellier, 2004 exhibition at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute of Gustave Courbet
  Gustave Courbet
  Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet was a French painter who led the Realist movement in 19th-century French painting. The Realist movement bridged the Romantic movement , with the Barbizon School and the Impressionists...
  
  's works from the collection of Alfred Bruyas, now at the Musée Fabre
  Musée Fabre
  The Musée Fabre is a museum in the southern French city of Montpellier, capital of the Hérault département.The museum was founded by François-Xavier Fabre, a Montpellier painter, in 1825. Beginning in 2003, the museum underwent a 61.2 million euro renovation, which was completed in January 2007...
  
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