Gustave Courbet (1819 - 1877). French painter regarded as a leading figure of French realism of the 19th century. In 1839, he went to study law in Paris, but instead devoted himself to painting (he copied works by Spanish, Venetian and Dutch masters). His first success was in the Salon in 1849, when he received the gold medal for his painting Afternoon in Ornans. Courbet was inspired by Dutch masters ( Rembrandt, Hals and others). His influence was also Giorgione and Tizian. In the beginning, he pursued the track of austere rules tied to academicism that, for his open-minded nature, was too strict. He therefore painted according to the romanticists (Delacroix and Géricault). With the painting Funeral in Ornans, in which he captured his grandfather’s funeral, he distanced himself from romanticism and has since been considered a painter of realism.