Painter. He received recognition as a 19th century, French painter. Born Jean-Frédéric Bazille, he was the son of wealthy parents, who had agreed that he could study painting if he studied to be a physician. His family had lived on their Montpellier estate since the 13th century growing grapes for wine and known for their artistic skills especially as a goldsmith and making weapons. He began to study medicine in 1859 and leaving Montpellier, he moved to Paris to study painting. While still an amateur in the studio of Charles Gleyre in 1862, he became a colleague to other artists such as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Alfred Sisley. In 1864 he left his medical studies after failing his courses. Although most of his colleagues had little income as they studied painting, he was financially comfortable with his allowance from his father and became the benefactor to the other artists purchasing supplies, hiring a model and providing a workspace in his studio. Over the years, he had six studios. Unlike many of his colleagues who painted soft landscapes, he painted realistic people in everyday life. His human forms appear like sculptures with hard-edges. Like his colleagues, he eventually abandoned Gleyre's style of painting following his own ideas. He was considered a naivete painter with a delicate touch and a sense of color. He particularly applied himself to combine figures painting with his easel in the open-air with an intense concentration on natural light. Often his colleagues would paint him in background of their paintings. His first official state exhibition was at the Salon in 1866 displaying "Girl at the Piano," but to his great disappointment, this painting was rejected from the show and "A Still Life with Fish" was displayed instead. He then reused the canvas of the "Girl at the Piano" for the 1870 painting, "Ruth and Boaz." Originally thought lost, the "Girl at the Piano" was rediscovered beneath the 1870 painting during the 20th century by x-ray technology. By 1870 he was a respected artist. When Prussia invaded France, France declared war on Prussia on July 19, 1870. On August 10th, he enlisted in the 3rd Zouaves light infantry regiment. While he was training Algeria during the war, the artistic community in France came to a standstill with many artists going into hiding to avoid the military. On November 28th, his unit was in a battle south of Paris in an attempt to end the Siege of Paris. When his commander was wounded, he took command and led an assault when he was shot twice then dying of his wounds on the battlefield. A few days later, his grieving father arrived to retrieved his son's remains and return him to Montpellier to be buried. Four years after his death in 1874, the first Impressionist exhibition took place with none of Bazille's paintings included in the show. Besides being on display in France at the Orsay Museum in Paris and Fabre Museum in Montpellier, his painting are on display in the United States at the Fogg Museum in Harvard University in Massachusetts, The Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the The Art Institute in Chicago. Among his best pieces is a self-portrait of the artist holding a palette of colored paints and a portrait of Renoir.