Fantin-Latour, (Ignace)
Henri Jean Theodore (1836-1904),
French painter and lithographer, best known for his flower paintings. He was born in Grenoble, and studied with his father, a portrait painter, and also at the school of Lecoq de Boisbaudran, the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and the school of academic painter Marc Gabriel Gleyre.

Although Fantin-Latour was a contemporary of the impressionists, he practiced a more conservative style, which gave his work an almost photographic realism. He also employed a shimmering, magical use of color. His delicately realistic flower paintings are noteworthy for their sureness of touch and the tender fragility of the blossoms.

In addition, Fantin-Latour painted mythological subjects, produced group portraits, and created imaginative lithographs illustrating the music of composers such as Hector Berlioz and Richard Wagner. In his group portraits, he portrayed the many contemporary Parisian artists and writers who were his friends. The flower pieces, as well as his more stylized lithographs, strongly influenced later symbolist painters, such as Odilon Redon.