Born in Caen, 3rd October 1835.

Died in Paris, 28th September 1892.

French School.


Stanislas Victor Edouard Lépine was originally self-taught before becoming a pupil of Camille-Jean-Baptiste Corot (1796-1875). Corot’s influence is apparent, not only in his choice of subject, river scenes on the Oise, Marne or Seine, but also in the soft, cool light that suffuses these tranquil representations of the French countryside. Lépine was also an admirer of the Dutch artist John Barthold Jongkind (1819-1891), the influence of whom is particularly apparent in Lépine’s moonlit scenes and marine or river scenes with shipping, subjects which were Jongkind’s hallmark.

Indeed, Lépine’s first Paris Salon exhibit was “Port of Caen, Moonlight Effect” 1859, now in Rheims Museum. Lépine lived and painted extensively in Paris, on the Seine, and in Montmartre where he lived. In 1874 he exhibited “Banks of the Seine” at the Societe Anonyme des Artistes, Peintres, Sculpteurs, Graveurs, etc., the first exhibition, apart from the Salon, of the Impressionists. Lépine, the leading pupil of Corot, along with Jongkind, and Corot himself, can all be said to anticipate the Impressionists in their use of light and subject matter. As with Corot, Lépine was highly regarded in his lifetime and widely collected, both in Europe and the United States in the latter part of the nineteenth and throughout the twentieth century.

His works can be found in museums in: Caen; Chicago; Edinburgh; London, National Gallery; Paris, Louvre and Reims.


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Bibliography: E. Bénézit “Dictionnaire des Peintres”