Charles Olivier de Penne-3 French Hounds-19th century Oil painting French Realism - Sporting Dogs - Oil painting on board - Signed - circa 1880s Panel size: 14x11" - Frame size: 24x21" Artist Biography Charles Olivier De Penne (1831 - 1897) was active/lived in France.He is known for Genre, landscape, animal, wildlife. De Penne was a landscape and animal painter, born in Paris in 1831. He was a student of Leon Cogniet. In 1857, after attending art school, he won the Rome Grand Second Prize with his painting Jesus et la Samaritaine, a subject inspired by Victor Hugo.De Penne also deeply loved the forest of Fontainebleau, animals and hunting. Under an apprenticeship to Charles-Emile Jacque, a painter and aquafortist from the Barbizon School, he discovered the world of popular farming books. From this evolved his rendering of hounds and hunting scenes. It is evident that de Penne had a "love of beasts" and a marvelous understanding of their character. Painting from life and regularly attended hunting's with hounds, the artist carefully watched his models. What resulted was a skillful rendering of the fluidity of a landscape with each dog's specific characteristics, like its pedigree, physiognomy and personality. De Penne's paintings became extremely popular during his lifetime, and remain so today. De Penne’s love of animals, especially dogs, and scenes of the hunt would be the driving force behind his art. A frequent exhibitor at the Paris Salon, he won the third class medal at in 1872 and the second class medal in 1883. Among the paintings he exhibited at the Salon were: Norman Dogs and Cerf forcé, tenant les abois in 1875; The Cry of the Wild Boar and English Dogs in 1876; Dogs of St. Hubert and Fox Hounds in 1877 and English Dogs and Dogs of Saint-Germain and Skye in 1878. At the Paris Exposition of 1889 he, along with Daniel Ridgway Knight, was awarded a silver medal.During his lifetime, De Penne’s sporting and animal paintings were highly sought after by collectors throughout the world. He continued to exhibit until his death on April 18, 1897.