catalog text
LÉON RICHET
French, 1847-1907
Summer Landscape with Trees
Oil on canvas | Signed "Leon Richet" lower left
Item # 105YTP14L
A well-worn dirt path makes its way past a small pond with bleary reflections capturing the trees immediately behind it, the largest gnarled with the upper portion having felled long ago. The path continues into the brilliant summer light of the full meadow in the distance, weaving perhaps into the small grove of trees in the distance along the left. The translucent shadows in the forefront give way to the light while the gray of the clouds suggest this may be short-lived.
Executed in oil on canvas, the work is signed lower left in the typical script of Richet; it retains its original stretchers with an old numbered label on the medial bar. The work has been carefully conserved and presents beautifully.
LÉON RICHET (FRENCH, 1847-1907)
Born in Solesmes, France in 1847 (generally accepted as 15 April, some texts reference 1843 as his possible birth year), Richet studied under Ambroise Détrez at Valenciennes Academy before becoming a pupil of Narcisse-Virgile Diaz de la Peña (French, 1807-1876) and later studying under Gustave Boulanger and Jules Lefebvre in Paris; Richet collaborated with Lefebvre on several paintings, with the figures being contributed by Lefebvre and Richet handling the landscapes.
Diaz would be most influential on his career both as a tutor and mentor, as is evident in the close thematic and stylistic parallels found in their work. But it is Lefebvre's influence on Richet's ability to capture light, the reflections on water and a general openness in his landscapes that set his work apart from the often shadowy and atmospheric works of his contemporaries. He introduced Richet to the Barbizon School, a group of like-minded artists working in Barbizon, France and in the Forest of Fontainebleau with an avante-garde view of the landscape. The traditionally acceptable way of capturing landscape was over-idealized framework for historical storytelling, the landscape being a secondary element for the larger story of the painting that is often devoid of honesty and chaos; the Barbizon School sought to rebel against this notion, their efforts aimed at attempting to capture nature and life exactly as it exists without romance or idealization. The school was active from 1830 through around 1870 and featured such luminaries as Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, Jean-Francois Millet and Theodore Rousseau, an artist who inspired Richet considerably.
Richet featured at the Paris Salon and then at the Salon of the Société des Artistes Franćais starting in 1869 and he continued to exhibit regularly through 1906. He was awarded an honourable mention in 1885, a second class medal in 1888 and another second class medal in 1901. He was strongly influenced by the Barbizon School and by Rosseau in particular, painting extensively the Forest of Fontainebleau while eventually achieving some renown within the Barbizon School.
Artist Listings & Bibliography:
- E. Benezit Dictionary of Artists, vol. XI, Gründ, 2006, p. 1010-1011
- The Barbizon School and 19th-Century French Landscape Painting, Bouret, 1973, p. 256
Measurements: 16 3/4" H x 23 7/8" H [canvas]; 24 3/4" H x 31 1/2" W x 1" D [frame]
Condition Report:
Wax relined. Professionally cleaned and conserved, fresh varnish applied. Very minor surface craquelure throughout, canvas in sturdy and stable condition. Under UV examination, several spots of inpainting in the sky, horizontal lines of inpaint above highest left-side tree, largest tree in the forefront with inpainting - mostly in the leaves & branches to the right of the trunk, inpainting along the extreme edges where frame rubs, other minor spots of touchups. Housed in a modern ebonized frame surrounding a period (and perhaps original) giltwood liner. Original stretchers, mostly original keys (one replaced). A very fine presentation, ready to place.