Hippolyte-Camille Delpy was born on April 6th, 1842 in the Burgundian region of France. His father Etienne Delpy was a pharmacist, a profession which afforded the Delpy family a comfortable existence. The elder Delpy hoped that his son would in turn become a pharmacist and continue in the family business. Yet, when the younger Delpy met the respected landscape painter Charles-Francois Daubigny, a friend of the family through Etienne's brother-in-law the engraver Lavoignant, Hippolyte became interested in pursuing more artistic endeavors. Daubigny often invited the young Delpy along on his walks and painting excursions.
Delpy was later accepted into the studio of the master Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot in Paris. Thus this young artist had the unique opportunity to study under two of the greatest landscape painters, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, and Charles-Francois Daubigny. The approaches of these two masters were, however, markedly different. Corot's style was more romantic and idealized, while that of Daubigny was more contemporary and realistic. For his own part Delpy captured the reality of nature while applying his own personal artistic reflections. As in the case of most landscape artists Delpy for many years lived an itinerant existence which led him to France, Holland, England, and even to the United States in search of potential idyllic landscapes suitable for his paintings.
In 1869 Delpy entered a still life painting entitled "A Luncheon During Lent, at My Father's House" in the competition at the Salon. This submission would be Delpy's first exposure to the world of artistic competition over a lifetime of entries that would span more than forty years. When Delpy later encountered financial difficulties, he held two public auctions of his works that met with success, a testament both to the popularity and the merit of his paintings during a period when many other landscape artists were also competing for the attention and the patronage of the public.
In the 1870's Daubigny met Camille Pissarro and Paul Cezanne, two prominent avant-garde painters of the day. As a result of their influence Delpy's brushstroke became more vigorous, while his color palette became more intense.
Towards the end of the 1880's with the encouragement of Théo Poilpot Delpy traveled to Washington, D.C. Along with a number of other artists he worked on a panoramic painting which portrayed the Battle of Manassas that took place in Virginia during the Civil War.
With the completion of this painting which had been well received Delpy returned to Paris where he submitted three paintings to the Exposition Universelle in 1889 along with such other artists as James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, and Berthe Morisot. That same year Delpy exhibited for the first time at the Galerie Artistes Modernes in Paris along the Rue de La Paix. In 1894 he held another exhibition of his works at the highly prestigious Galerie George Petit which was also in Paris. Delpy continued to show at the Salon exhibitions where he was bestowed "hors concours" status, an honor which permitted him to exhibit whatever he chose rather than having to endure the scrutiny of the jury selection process.
By 1909 Delpy's health was failing. His last Salon participation was in 1910. He died in his beloved Paris on Saturday June 4th, 1910, having enjoyed extraordinary success during his lifetime.
Delpy achieved extraordinary success both during and after his lifetime. His paintings were very popular due in large part to his unique ability to depict nature both in realistic tones but also with a sentimental feeling gleaned from an understanding of the methods of his mentors, the great landscape painters Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot and Charles-Francois Daubigny. In FluBlandschaft in der Île de France Hippolyte-Camille Delpy a pleasant riverscape view in the Île de France (Island of France), one of the wealthiest areas within the environs of Paris. Here the artist deftly combines the poetical style of Corot with the more naturalistic style of his first and original teacher Daubigny to create a view of the Oise, Marne & Seine Rivers that nonetheless reflects Delpy's own personality and style of painting. Delpy often painted landscape scenes at different times of the day to accentuate the changes in light and also from different angles again to record the distinctive transformations of luminosity and radiance. Here he undertakes the depiction of a boat seamlessly being rowed across the placid waters punctuated by lily pads and the reflection of the ubiquitous and native poplar trees of France. The subtle rendering of the landscape echoes the Classicism of Corot's training, but Delpy couples this formality with a Romanticism that infuses the picture with distinct light and darkness, all the while revealing the influence of the Impressionists on his work. The picture also reveals Delpy's understanding of the complexity of the landscape that was the hallmark of Daubigny's art with the entire range of greens masterfully executed. However, to this understanding and appreciation Delpy applies an energy which is uniquely his own. Delpy infuses a greater intensity of color into his work but carefully avoids any distracting clashes of color. What ultimately emerges is an extraordinarily complex tonality in perfect harmony with the surroundings that invigorates and revitalizes the canvas. The water is beautifully executed and provides a second focal point to the rich fecundity of the fields to the left as well as the foliage that circles the waters. The lone farmhouse in the background coupled with the grasses in the foreground lead the eye of the viewer from the forefront to the horizon in the distance and towards the other worldliness of the shimmering light-suffused sky which occupies over half of the painter's canvas.
Abels Gemälde-Galerie, Koln, Stadtwaldgürtel 32, Köln