Figures in a street – Normandy
by Stanislas Lepine

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Artist biography

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Stanislas Victor Édouard Lépine was the pupil of Corot in Paris between 1860 and 1875. His first paintings hardly attracted attention. He would perhaps have remained unknown for a long time if Count Armand Doria, struck by the feeling visible in his landscapes, had not taken him under his protection with Adolphe Félix Cals and had not offered him extensive hospitality in his château at Orrouy. Lépine could thus work without having to worry about material necessities. However, fortune seldom smiled on the artist, although the serenity of his view of the world in general was not affected. He made his debut at the Salon de Paris in 1859. The Impressionists recognised his talent and invited him to participate in their exhibition of 1874.

Lépine spent his life painting in the Valley of the Seine, from Paris to its estuary, and specialised in the reproduction of river banks, showing their lively activity and poetry. If he learnt from his master his beautiful simplicity in the art of experiencing sincere emotions and knowing how to communicate them simply, he also looked closely at Jongkind and discovered how to depict the depth of the skies and the limpidity of the water. Apart from his own poetic merit, Lépine is one of those minor masters of French landscape in the 19th century who prepared the way for the Impressionists, and began to educate the eye of the public towards a more balanced vision of nature.

In 1993 the Galerie Schmit in Paris mounted an exhibition of his paintings.

Museum and Gallery Holdings

Caen: View of Montmartre
Chicago (AI): River
Edinburgh: The Seine at Bercy
Edinburgh (Nat. Gal. of Scotland): The Pont de l'Alma near Paris (oil on canvas)
London (NG): The Pont de la Tournelle, Paris (1862-1864, oil on canvas); Nuns and Schoolgirls in the Tuileries Gardens, Paris (1871-1883, oil/wood)
Paris (ENSBA): Pont des Arts
Paris (Mus. d'Orsay): Ornamental Lake in the Tuileries; Portrait of the Son of the Artist; Apple Market
Rheims: View of the Seine; Quai aux Fleurs; Boats on the River; Landscape with River Banks
Rouen (MBA)
St-Étienne (Mus. d'Art et d'Industrie)

Previously Sold Artworks