Théodore Baron

Baron monument, Namur, Belgium, by sculptor Charles van der Stappen

Théodore Baron (19 August 1840 – 4 September 1899) was a Belgian painter, best known for his realistic landscapes.

Baron was born in Ixelles. Following the example of French-educated Belgian painter Alfred de Knyff (1819-1886), Baron adopted an austere, wintry style of landscape painting with a dull color palette, called mode gris by contemporaries.^[1]

In 1868 Baron became one of the founding members of the Société Libre des Beaux-Arts, formed to react against the Belgian version of academicism and to advance Realist painting and artistic freedom.^[2]

Among Baron's students were Isidore Verheyden^[3] and Hippolyte de la Charlerie. In 1913 a street in Auderghem was named in his honor.

References

1. The Belgian Galleries: Being a History of the Flemish School of Painting ...by Esther Singleton, 1911, page 107
2. Arto: Aperçus historiques
3. Dictionary of Women Artists, Volume 1, edited by Delia Gaze, page 282