Frédéric Bazille was born in Montpellier, Hérault, Languedoc-Roussillon, into a wealthy Protestant family. He became interested in painting after seeing some works of Eugène Delacroix. His family agreed to let him study painting, but only if he also studied medicine.

Bazille began studying medicine in 1859, and moved to Paris in 1862 to continue his studies. There he met Pierre-Auguste Renoir, was drawn to Impressionist painting, and began taking classes in Charles Gleyre's studio. After failing his medical exam in 1864, he began painting full-time. His close friends included Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, and Édouard Manet. Bazille was generous with his wealth, and helped support his less fortunate associates by giving them space in his studio and materials to use.

Bazille was just twenty-three years old when he painted several famous works, including The Pink Dress (ca. 1864, in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris). This painting combines a portrait-like depiction of Bazille's cousin - Thérèse des Hours, who is seen from behind - and the sunlit landscape at which she gazes. His best known painting is Family Reunion of 1867 - 1868 (in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris).

Frédéric Bazille joined a Zouave regiment in August 1870, a month after the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War. On November 28 of that year he was with his unit at the Battle of Beaune-la-Rolande when, his officer having been injured, he took command and led an assault on the German position. He was hit twice in the failed attack and died on the battlefield at the age of twenty nine. His father journeyed to the battlefield a few days later to take his body back for burial at Montpellier over a week later.

The question of Bazille's homosexuality remains somewhat speculative. Todd Porterfield points to the "urbane homosociality of [Bazille's] Paris milieu," where he associated with writers and musicians including Charles Baudelaire, Émile Zola, Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud, and Edmond Maître, some of whom he painted. Other commentators discuss evidence from the paintings themselves, in particular two, Scène d'été (Summer Scene, 1869) and Pêcheur à l'épervier (Fisherman with a Net, 1868), here reproduced.

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Picture: Frédéric Bazille, Self-portrait, 1865 - 1866, oil on canvas, Art Institute of Chicago