Charles Daubigny (1817-1878) occupies essentially the same position among the Barbizon artists that Pissarro occupies among the Impressionists.  Daubigny, born into an artistic family, began his career as a decorator of applied arts.  He exhibited for the first time at the Salon of 1838 and regularly from then on.  His contact with Corot (1852) led him to working out of doors (en plein air) in the forest of Fontainebleau, aligning him with the Barbizon school of artists.  In 1860, Daubigny popularized a second artists' colony at Auvers-sur-Oise, where he was followed by Pissarro, Cezanne and van Gogh.

Daubigny's preference for river scenery led him in 1857 to use his boat as his studio, "Botin", from which he painted river scenes.  He thus broke apart from the classicism of Corot and became closest of all the Barbizon painters to the work of the Impressionists in his approach and choice of subject matter.  One of Daubigny's most charming works in any medium was a series of little etchings  of the Oise drifting past his houseboat.  Although Cadart published the series, the whimsical vignettes of his aquatic disposition seemed to have been intended for the amusement of his family and artist friends.  These little images, however, became a realist odyssey into naturalism.