Diaz De La Pena, Narcisse Virgile

Born Aug. 20, 1808, in Bordeaux; died Nov. 18, 1876, in Menton. French painter of Spanish nationality.

At first Diaz de la Perๅ’s paintings had romantic subjects. In the mid-1840’s, having joined the Barbizon school, he began to create small landscapes distinguished by energetic brush strokes and romantic color and light effects. From the late 1840’s, Diaz de la Pñna expressed interest in the unusual, sometimes dramatic moments in nature (The Approach of Thunder, 1871, A. S. Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow), as well as a desire to convey thoughtfully a lifelike, realistic representation of nature in its more tranquil states (Landscape, 1864, Hermitage, Leningrad).