Gleyre, Charles

Gleyre, Charles (b Chevilly, nr. Lausanne, 2 May 1806; d Paris, 5 May 1874). Swiss painter, active mainly in Paris, where he settled in 1838 after four years travelling in the Near East (see Orientalism). His successful career was based mainly on figure compositions, sometimes in an antique setting, and portraits. He had a highly polished technique and was a renowned teacher; when Delaroche retired from teaching in 1843, the majority of his students transferred to Gleyre. He taught Whistler and several of the Impressionists—Bazille, Monet, Renoir, and Sisley—and although his own paintings were academic in spirit, he encouraged open-air painting (see plein air). Renoir, however, said that his main strength as a teacher was that he left his pupils ‘pretty much to their own devices’. Gleyre closed his studio in 1864 because of an eye ailment.