Charles de Penne was a landscape and animal painter, born in Paris in 1831. He was a student of Leon Cogniet. In 1857, after attending art school, he won the Rome Grand Second Prize with his painting “Jesus et la Samaritaine”, a subject inspired by Victor Hugo.
Charles deeply loved the forest of Fontainebleau, animals and hunting. Under an apprenticeship to Charles-Emile Jacque, a painter and aquafortist from the Barbizon School, de Penne began rendering hounds and hunting scenes. It is evident that de Penne had a marvelous understanding of their character. Painting from life and regularly attended hunts involving hounds, the artist carefully watched his models. What resulted was a skillful rendering of the fluidity of a landscape with each dog's specific characteristics, like its pedigree, physiognomy and personality.