Gustave Courbet — French Artist born on June 10, 1819, died on December 31, 1877

Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet was a French painter who led the Realist movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and the Romanticism of the previous generation of visual artists. His independence set an example that was important to later artists, such as the Impressionists and the Cubists. Courbet occupies an important place in 19th-century French painting as an innovator and as an artist willing to make bold social statements through his work... (wikipedia)

I am not one who was born in the custody of wisdom; I am one who is fond of olden times and intense in quest of the sacred knowing of the ancients.
Fine art is knowledge made visible.
I hope to live all my life for my art, without abandoning my principles one iota.
Painting is the representation of visible forms. The essence of realism is its negation of the ideal.
The expression of beauty is in direct ratio to the power of conception the artist has acquired.