Painting by Stanislas Lepine (1835-1892)

Painting by Stanislas Lepine (1835-1892)
Oil on canvas signed lower left - Antique frame gilded with gold leaf.

Dimensions:
Frame dimensions: 71 x 53.5 cm.
Dimensions of canvas: 49 x 32 cm.

Biography:
Stanislas Lépine (1835-1892) began his artistic career in the manner of the seascape painter Johan Barthold Jongkind, specializing in rendering nautical views such as the Sailboats of Caen roadstead.
He moved to Montmartre in Paris in 1855, where he spent the rest of his life. He lived successively at no. 20 chaussée de Clignancourt (rue de Clignancourt today), then rue des Rosiers, rue de la Fontenelle (1870-1887) (since 1907, these two streets have formed rue du Chevalier-de-La-Barre) and finally at no. 18 rue de Clignancourt.
In 1859, he made his debut at the Salon, where he exhibited until 1880. He presented Port de Caen and Effet clair de lune. At the same time, he married a childhood friend, Marie-Odile-Emilie Dodin.
In 1860, he began a more professional apprenticeship in the studio of Jean Baptiste-Camille Corot, copying some of his paintings. He then met Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904), whose friendship was to include financial support on several occasions.
In 1861, his submission to the Salon was rejected, but his Pont des Invalides was accepted in 1863.
Having become a friend of Corot's, and living away from official circles, it was thanks to the support of Count Doria that he was able to continue painting. Together with Adolphe-Félix Cals, the Count took them under his protection, and welcomed them to his Château d'Orrouy.
With Corot, he developed a personal style, halfway between the pastoral spirit of his master's compositions and the atmospheric landscapes of the Impressionists: La Rue Saint Vincent, circa 1875 (Musée d'Orsay), the Montmartre of 1878, and Paris, le pont des Arts of 1880.
From 1870, Durand-Ruel began to take an interest in his work, and he took part in the exhibition he organized in London in 1971. But the severe economic crisis of 1873 to 1879 forced the dealer to stop buying.
He never matched the popularity of his contemporaries, but he was invited to take part in the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874, where he exhibited three views of Paris, including Bords de Seine. He distanced himself from the group, however, fearing that the scandal surrounding their demonstrations would be detrimental to his career, and preferred to present his works at the Salon.
He continued to work alone, following the three axes he had explored from the start: views of Paris, views of the surrounding area, and paintings of the Normandy coast and villages. To survive, the artist organized the first auction of his works in 1874. Thirty-four paintings were offered for sale at Hôtel Drouot in 1874, and the following year twenty-three paintings were auctioned off, bringing him a reasonable sum for the time.
The 1880s saw a shift in the subjects depicted, as in Noces à Saint-Étienne-du-Mont. He painted a series of views of Parisian parks and gardens (Trocadero, Luxembourg, Tuileries), in which he showed an interest in the anecdotal, highly unusual for him up to that point: couples strolling, schoolchildren playing, nannies with young children, etc. He regularly took part in the Salon des artistes français.
He exhibited regularly at the Salon des artistes français from 1881 to 1889. His talent was finally recognized in 1884, when he received an "honorable" mention at the Salon. For the painting La Seine à l'Estacade, exhibited at the 1885 Salon, he produced a number of small preparatory canvases that can be found today at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena and in a private collection.
He died on September 28, 1892 in his Paris apartment, and his funeral took place at Saint-Pierre church in Montmartre.

Ref: C43B30CT7P