Léon RICHET 1843+1907

Biography

Léon Richet Student of Narcisse Diaz de la Pena and Emile Van Marcke de Lummen, painter of the Barbizon school, Léon Richet was especially interested in the representation of animals and landscapes.

Landscape painter, Léon Richet was born in Solesmes on April 15, 1843 to Jean Baptiste Joseph Richet, miller, and Sophie Elisa Milon. His parents' mill is none other than the "Moulin Cardon", well known to the Solesmois.

Young, Léon Richet followed for a while the drawing and painting classes taught at the Academic Schools of Valenciennes by Mr. Ambroise Détrez, a former student of Léon Cogniet, who succeeded Julien Sotier. In 1879 he was appointed professor at the Lycée de Valenciennes.

In Paris, he became fond of the Valenciennes painter Teinturier and became a student of Jules Lefebvre and especially the disciple Diaz de la Pena with whom he sometimes collaborated (we come across paintings bearing both their signatures), he is as daring as him in his enameled way of treating the reflections of light in the water and the effects of the sun in the clouds.

At the Paris salons, he obtained an honorable 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 Honor.

Richet is almost always a diligent painter of the forest of Fontainebleau. His much admired painting "A Road in the Forest of Fontainebleau" attracted the public's attention to him. He exhibited at 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 d'Apremont, painted between 1847 and 1907 Museum of Fine Arts of Reims Landscape with Marshes, 1872 Landscape, 1869 Landscape with marshes, digital museum Landscape with marshes, digital museum