Auguste-Xavier Leprince Paris 1799 - 1826 Nice

Exhibited in Tokyo as by Victor Bertin, "Les Bords de la Nièvre", lent by Miquel (according to the label on the stretcher).

Auguste-Xavier Leprince was born into a family of artists, which included his father and two brothers, Robert-Léopold Leprince (1800-1847) and Gustave (1810-1837).  He exhibited at the Paris Salon and was well received by Parisian society.  His patrons included amongst others the Duchesse de Berry, who owned his Landscape with Skaters, sold Christie's, Paris, June 26, 2003. Best known as a painter of romantic ruins he embraced the art of landscape painting and followed in the tradition of plein air painting being practiced in the forest areas of Barbizon and Fontainebleau by artists such as Huet and Caruelle d'Aligny.   The location of the present landscape is unidentified but it is most likely a village on the outskirts of Paris.  The unfinished nature of the composition adds to its allure as a sketch done en plein air.