American Toby Jug Museum 

Claude Monet character jug modeled by David B. Biggs and produced by Royal Doulton of Burslem, England, between 2000 and 2002. The French painter Claude Monet (1840—1926) was a primary founder of the Impressionism school of art. He adhered to its principles throughout his long career and is considered its most consistently representative painter, as well as one of the foremost painters of landscape in the history of art. He was the most important of the artists who first allowed their initial spontaneous impressions of outdoor scenes or events to stand as complete works. In 1874, Sisley, Morisot, and Monet organized the first Impressionist group show. It was ferociously maligned by the critics, who coined the term “Impressionism” after Monet’s Impression: Sunrise, 1872. Monet was especially concerned with portraying the variations of light and atmosphere brought on by changes of hour and season. To do this, he chose simple matter, making series of studies of the same object at different times of day or year: haystacks, morning views of the Seine, the Gare Saint-Lazare, poplars, the Thames, and the last great lyrical series of water lilies, painted in his own garden at Giverny. The Giverny bridge, a sheaf of wheat and water lilies form the handle of the jug.