Provenance:

Private Collection, France

Description:

This hastily sketched vignette of workmen by the Pont de Saint-Pères is typical of Lépine both in his wanderings around Paris and his highly impressionistic approach to painting which is particularly apparent in this sketch. It is both finely detailed, enough to work out where on the Seine it is, but also very emotive and atmospheric. The little panel was presumably completed on the spot and some of his more finished views of the Seine are not quite so freely rendered. His reaction to both the place and weather conditions are very present in this panel and we can hear the chatter of the workmen as they shovel sand, as well as the loud hissing from the steam engined heavy excavation machine.

Lépine should be considered as one of the forerunners to Impressionism. The critic Paul Jamot wrote in 1906 that Lépine ‘should occupy a privileged position between Corot and Jongkind’. He gained no formal training before the age of 18 and in fact seems to have been largely self-taught up to this point. He was from a modest background and had to save up to afford his brushes, paints and canvases. Perhaps his major artistic influence came from Johan Jongkind and he learnt much from him in depicting atmospheric conditions.

He made his debut at the Paris Salon in 1859 with Port de Caen, Effet de Lune and in the same year took up residence in Montmartre. It was then that he began to find inspiration in the Seine and its environs painting its bridges, banks, neighbouring streets and boats. At some point in the early 1860s he became a pupil of Corot but it is not known exactly when and for how long.

A quietly spoken man, slightly isolated from the usual artistic circles, he was a regular exhibitor at the Salon and regularly worked with the dealers, Pére Martin and Paul Durand-Ruel. Despite this he suffered great financial hardship throughout his life and died practically penniless. Interestingly in an auction he arranged in March 1875 he sold 23 of his own works at an average of 312 francs a picture. Not long after a further sale featuring, among others, Monet, Renoir, Sisley and Morisot made average prices lower than Lépine.

Perhaps because he eschewed the company of his fellow artists (except for friendships with Cals, Ribot and Fantin-Latour) he was largely ignored by critics. He was part of the first Impressionist exhibition in 1874 but it wasn’t until 1889 that he gained official recognition receiving two first class medals for Le Pont de l’ Estacade à Paris and Le Pont Royal. This new found appreciation for his work came sadly too late and he died relatively young, almost totally paralyzed and totally penniless. His childhood sweetheart, Marie-Odile-Emilie, whom he had married early on, survived him with their three children.