Victor Gabriel Gilbert
French, 1847–1933
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Victor Gabriel Gilbert was a French painter.
Of modest origins, he suffered from poor health during his childhood, which prevented him from following in his father's footsteps as a carpenter for Pleyel and Wolf. In 1860, he was placed as an apprentice with Eugène Adam, a painter and decorator. In the evenings, he took art classes under the direction of Father Levasseur at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.
He made his debut at the Salon des Artistes Français with still lifes and, in 1873, with two paintings, Avant le bal (Before the Ball) and Les apprêts du dîner (Preparing Dinner). In 1874, he presented two other paintings, one of which, entitled Le pot au feu (The Pot on the Fire), was purchased by a collector.
In the mid-1870s, he received financial support from Father Martin, whose shop on Rue Laffitte had been an artistic hub since the 1850s. Martin, who was notably the dealer for Boudin and Jongkind, was a great help to the young man. At the 1875 Salon, his “Portrait de Madame M.” was successful enough that he abandoned decorative painting.
Towards the end of the 1870s, his taste for naturalism became more pronounced and he turned to genre painting with scenes of streets, cafés, and markets, particularly Les Halles. He won a second-class medal at the 1880 Salon and a silver medal at the 1889 World's Fair. He became a member of the Société des Artistes Français in 1914.
At the 1880 Salon, he received his first award, a second-class medal, and his painting “Un coin du marché au poisson, le matin” (A Corner of the Fish Market in the Morning) was acquired by the State. The exhibition of two other paintings of Les Halles at the 1881 Salon made him the official artist of this genre of painting in Paris and secured his reputation.
His work became popular in the 1880s when the major print producer Goupil & Cie reproduced his paintings as photogravure “chromos” and distributed them widely.
He won a silver medal at the 1889 Paris World's Fair and was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor in 1897.
He is buried in the Montmartre Cemetery in Paris (19th division).
