International studio (36.1908/1909(1909))

nality of coiour. Of the same period is a rather
ceiebrated canvas by Lephre which now beiongs to
the Musee Carnavaiet. I refer to Z? /<%
7?^^ <?M J JZ772/?%<3?V7*<?, the iittie house,
since demolished, where the two generals, Ciement
Thomas and Lecomte, were shot under the
Commune.
About 1878 Lepere seems to have engaged in
a new series of works—seapieces. But in truth
he ''never deserted" Paris, where stili iater he
was to produce many a rich xwTvagZi!, such as his
<2%<zf <%? <%? LzV/!?—<^y/ <& 72^2^, h's
<r22 Q22C2' <%? f<t which are
now reproduced. During a stay in that quaint
Norman town, Fecamp, he was seized with great
fondness for the aspects of the ocean and for the
iife of the harbour and the beach, thus carrying
on the tradition of Bonington, Isabey and Hervier.
Somewhat iater the settings of Lepere's paintings
came to simpiified. For some years past he has
spent the summer and autumn months at St. Jean du
Mont on the Vendee coast, and therehe hassigned
the pictures which to my mind are his freest as
regards handiing and his absoluteiy hnest in matter.
Nothing couid be more simple than this landscape

so often repeated in Lepbre's work—the long,
white, sandy iine of the shore, now seen under the
beating of the waves at high tide, now ieft dry,
with great poois here and there, and away on the
other side the sea in aii its immensity. But above
this landscape is the sky, which with Lepbre formed
the ever changing zwA/ whereon he embroidered
such spiendid variations. At one time we have
the great ciouds, in aii their firm and puissant
architecture, giided by the rays of the setting sun;
at another the pale and milky blue of the horizon
raises thoughts of the first days of Autumn.
Lepere adores the sun and delights in painting it
face to face—as Turner so frequently did—or in the
midst of some big cloud pierced by its rays.
All these broad and beautiful TwcA/r, which were
painted by Lepere with so much enthusiasm, may
be rediscovered in his water-colours and retouched
drawings. Since the 18th century no one has
practised the "dessin rehausse" with more ease
than Lepere. One has only to look at the two
examples reproduced in these pages. Could any-
thing be more simple, more precise, more true?
In a few strokes, with a few rapid touches of
colour, Lepere depicts a Vendeean cottage; and


"LE QUAI DE LA RUE DES TANNEURS A AMIBNS" (GOUACHE)
86

BY AUGUSTE LEPERE