LEON RICHET

Landscape and flower artist Léon Richet was born in Normandy, France in 1847. He was a student of many celebrated artists, including Diaz, Lefébvre, and Boulanger. He made his debut at the Paris Salon in 1869 with two canvases: “Bouleaux sur Les Hauteurs de la Plaine, Blanche, Foret de Fontainebleau” and “Mare dans la Gorge aux Loups”. In 1885, he was awarded an honorable mention prize, and won second place titles in both 1888 and 1901.

As a follower of the great masters of the Barbizon school, Richet strove to record the nature and effects of light on the diverse landscapes of his travels, and so painted in Normandy, Picardie, and the Bourbonais, and the countryside of the Auvergne and seacoast in Treport. He was acclaimed for his skill in showing the effects of light from the sky on bodies of water; he paid very careful attention to clouds and how they changed the appearance of water. Richet’s best known landscapes are those set in the forest Fountainbleau where he often depicted a figure on a tree-lined path or standing by a lake or pond. He died in Fountainbleau in 1907.