Painting By Stanislas Lépine (1835-1892)

Painting By Stanislas Lepine (1835-1892) Oil on canvas signed lower left - Old frame gilded with gold leaf. Dimensions: Frame dimensions: 71 x 53.5 cm. Canvas dimensions: 49 x 32 cm. Biography: Stanislas Lépine (1835-1892) he began his artistic career in the style of the marine painter Johan Barthold Jongkind and specialized in the rendering of nautical views such as the Sailboats of the harbor of Caen. He settled in Paris in 1855 in Montmartre and spent his entire life there. He lived successively at no. 20 Chaussée de Clignancourt (rue de Clignancourt today), then rue des Rosiers, rue de la Fontenelle (1870-1887) (these two streets have formed rue du Chevalier-de-La-Barre since 1907) and finally at no. 18 rue de Clignancourt. In 1859, he made his debut at the Salon where he exhibited until 1880. He then presented Port de Caen, Moonlight Effect. He married at the same time with a childhood friend Marie-Odile-Emilie Dodin. In 1860, he undertook a more professional apprenticeship in the workshop of Jean Baptiste-Camille Corot, from whom he copied certain paintings. He then met Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904) whose friendship was accompanied on several occasions by financial assistance. In 1861 his submission to the Salon was rejected, but his Pont des Invalides was accepted in 1863. Having become a friend of Corot, living away from official circles, it was thanks to the support of Count Doria that he was able to continue painting. . With Adolphe-Félix Cals, the count takes them under his protection, and welcomes them to his castle of Orrouy. At Corot, he developed a personal style, halfway between the pastoral spirit of his master's compositions, and the atmospheric landscapes of the Impressionists: Rue Saint Vincent, around 1875 (Musée d'Orsay), Montmartre from 1878, and Paris, the Pont des Arts in 1880. From 1870, Durand-Ruel began to take an interest in his work, and he participated in the exhibition that he organized in London in 1971. But the serious economic crisis which raged from 1873 to 1879, forcing the merchant to interrupt his purchases. He never matched the popularity of his contemporaries, but he was invited to participate in the first impressionist exhibition in 1874 where he exhibited three views of Paris including the banks of the Seine. However, he moved away from the group, fearing that the scandal surrounding their demonstrations would harm the smooth progress of his career and preferred to present his works at the Salon. He continues his solitary work along the three axes that he has explored since his beginnings: views of Paris, those of its surroundings and paintings representing the Normandy coasts and villages. To survive, the artist organized the first auction of his works in 1874. He put thirty-four paintings on sale at the Hôtel Drouot in 1874, and the following year twenty-three paintings were sold at auction and brought him a reasonable sum for the time. In the 1880s, we observed a turning point in the subjects represented, as in Noces à Saint-Étienne-du-Mont. He painted a series of views of Parisian parks and gardens (Trocadéro, Luxembourg, Tuileries) where he showed an interest in the anecdote, very unusual for him until then: couples walking, schoolchildren playing, nannies with young children, etc. He regularly participated in the Salon of French Artists from 1881 to 1889. His talent was finally recognized in 1884 where he obtained an "honorable" mention at the Salon. For the painting La Seine à l'Estacade, exhibited at the Salon of 1885, he created numerous small preparatory canvases which can be found today at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena and in a private collection He died on September 28, 1892 in his Parisian apartment and his funeral took place at the Saint-Pierre church in Montmartre.