144. Robert Léopold Leprince

Paris 1800 – 1847 Chartres

Farm Courtyard

This unassuming view of a farm courtyard by Robert Léopold Leprince is wonderfully rich with detail. The artist clearly delighted in the colours and textures of the rustic stone building, and the spring-green leaves give the picture a remarkable freshness. The scene’s only inhabitant is a dog, sitting calmly in profile at the right. Like his older brother Auguste-Xavier before him (cat. 145), Leprince’s talent was recognised from a young age and already in his early twenties he was working on commissions from important patrons such as Louis-Philippe d’Orléans. Though he exhibited regularly at the Paris Salon between 1822-44, obtaining a first-class medal in 1824, Leprince favoured rural environments and relocated to Chartres as a young man.