Les falaises d'Étretat par Leon Richet, Circa 1900

Leon Richet  

LEON RICHET A student of Narcisse Diaz de la Pena and Emile Van Marcke de Lummen, a painter from the Barbizon school, Léon Richet was particularly interested in the representation of animals and landscapes. A landscape painter, Léon Richet was born in Solesmes on April 15, 1843 to Jean Baptiste Joseph Richet, a miller, and Sophie Elisa Milon. His parents' mill was none other than the "Moulin Cardon", well known to the people of Solesmes. As a young man, Léon Richet took drawing and painting classes at the Valenciennes Academic Schools for a while, taught by Mr. Ambroise Détrez, a former student of Léon Cogniet, who succeeded Julien Sotier. In 1879, he was appointed professor at the Valenciennes High School. In Paris, he became fond of the Valenciennes painter Teinturier and became a pupil of Jules Lefebvre and especially of the disciple Diaz de la Pena with whom he sometimes collaborated (we come across paintings bearing both of their signatures), he was bold like him in his enamelled way of treating the reflections of light in water and the effects of the sun in the clouds. At the Paris salons, he obtained an honourable mention in 1885, a 3rd class medal in 1898 and a 2nd class medal in 1900; from then on he was exempt from competition and proposed for the cross of the Legion of Honour. Richet was almost always a diligent painter of the forest of Fontainebleau. His painting "a road in the forest of Fontainebleau", much admired, attracted the public's attention to him. He exhibited at the salons organized by the Society of French Artists from 1880 to 1906. Léon Richet died in Paris on March 28, 1907. Works Musée d'Orsay Portrait of Pierre Lanith Petit (1831 - 1909) The Gorges of Apremont, painted between 1847 and 1907 Musée des Beaux-Arts de Reims Landscape with marsh, 1872 Landscape, 1869 Landscape with marsh, digital museum Landscape with marsh, digital museum.