Auguste-Xavier Leprince (August 28, 1799 – December 26, 1826) was a French artist and painter who attained celebrity at the age of seventeen. His patrons included the Duchesse de Berry,

Charles X Charles X (born Charles Philippe, Count of Artois; 9 October 1757 – 6 November 1836) was King of France from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. An uncle of the uncrowned Louis XVII and younger brother to reigning kings Louis XVI and Loui ...

, and Alexandre du Sommerard. He was also a teacher; in his twenties he established his own atelier in Paris, with pupils including his two younger brothers, Robert-Léopold and Pierre-Gustave, as well as

Eugène Lepoittevin Eugène Lepoittevin (31 July 1806 – 6 August 1870), also known as Poidevin, Poitevin, and Le Poittevin, was a French artist who achieved an early and lifelong success as a landscape and maritime painter. His work ranged from erotic caricatures t ...

and Nicolas Alexandre Barbier. His meteoric career came to an abrupt end and his "brilliant promise was cut short by his premature death at the age of twenty-seven."

Early success with pastoral subjects

Xavier Leprince was born in Paris, the son of Anne-Pierre Leprince (said to be a painter and lithographer, but about whom little is known) and Marie-Adélaïde-Florentine Datir. Alexandre du Sommerard, who became one of his patrons, indicates that Xavier was essentially a self-taught artist, saying his early paintings were created "almost without any other guide than nature."Du Sommerard (1827). His earliest known works, dating from 1816 to 1819, mostly depict livestock and their keepers in pastoral settings. These precocious works gained for the teenaged Leprince "a celebrity confirmed by the exorbitant prices set, by the merchants themselves, for his first productions." Art historians see in these early works the influence of 17th-century Dutch landscape and animal painters

Adriaen van de Velde Adriaen van de Velde (bapt. 30 November 1636, in Amsterdam – bur. 21 January 1672, in Amsterdam), was a Dutch painter, draughtsman and print artist. His favorite subjects were landscapes with animals and genre scenes.Adriaen van Ostade Adriaen van Ostade (baptized as Adriaen Jansz Hendricx 10 December 1610 – buried 2 May 1685) was a Dutch Golden Age painter of genre works, showing everyday life of ordinary men and women. Life According to Arnold Houbraken, he and his brot ...

and

Isaac van Ostade Isaac van Ostade (bapt. June 2, 1621 – buried October 16, 1649) was a Dutch genre and landscape painter. Biography Van Ostade was born in Haarlem. He began his studies under his brother, Adriaen, with whom he remained until 1641, when he s ...

, and the French landscape artist

Jean-Louis de Marne Jean-Louis de Marne (1752-24 March 1829) was a French painter. Biography Born at Brussels in 1752, pupil of Gabriel Briard, Jean-Louis de Marne died at Batignolles near Paris on March 24, 1829. He went to Paris at the age of 12 after the dea ...

. He made his salon debut at age nineteen, exhibiting six paintings, all landscapes or rural subjects, at the

Paris Salon The Salon (french: Salon), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art ...

of 1819, where he was awarded a medal. His expertise at depicting farming life in rural France reached a new level with his 1822 work ''La moisson'', a painting of laborers harvesting a field, which was purchased by

Marie-Caroline de Bourbon-Sicile, duchesse de Berry Marie-Caroline of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duchess of Berry (Maria Carolina Ferdinanda Luise; 5 November 1798 – 16 April 1870) was an Italian princess of the House of Bourbon who married into the French royal family, and was the mother of Henri ...

, who also collected Leprince's 1823 painting of ice-skaters, ''Les Patineurs''.Bonnemaison.Bolton and Strachen. (She may also have commissioned from Leprince a painting depicting guests listening to music in her grove at the Hermitage of Enghien at Montmorency, known from a lithograph.) His 1823 painting, ''Embarquement des bestiaux sur le Passager dans le port de Honfleur'' (''Embarkation of Cattle on the Passager at the Port of

Honfleur Honfleur () is a commune in the Calvados department in northwestern France. It is located on the southern bank of the estuary of the Seine across from le Havre and very close to the exit of the Pont de Normandie. The people that inhabit Honf ...

''), emblematic of the cattle paintings of the era, was of singular importance to his career. Féréol Bonnemaison wrote that it "placed M. Leprince among our best genre painters. His career is now gloriously open before him." The painting was purchased by

for 3,000 francs, and is now in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince, pastoral scene, 1816.jpg, Pastoral scene, 1816, private collection. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince, Taveler, mother and child, 1816,.jpg, Taveler, mother and child, 1816, private collection. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince--Paysage, bergere sur un ane--1817--Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux.jpg, ''Paysage, bergere sur un ane'', 1817,

Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux is the fine arts museum of the city of Bordeaux, France. The museum is housed in a dependency of the Palais Rohan in central Bordeaux. Its collections include paintings, sculptures and drawings from the 15t ...

. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince--Le repos des bergers sur le chemin--1818.jpg, ''Le repos des bergers sur le chemin'', 1818, private collection. File:Leprince--shepherd+dog+cows--1819.jpg, ''Le berger, son chien et son troupeau'', 1819, private collection. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince--Rustic Pleasures--1819.jpg, ''Rustic Pleasures'', 1819, private collection. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince--Paysage à la fermière et au cheval--c1816-1819.jpg, ''Paysage à la fermière et au cheval'', undated (c. 1816-1819), private collection.

Other genres

Moving beyond pastoral subjects, Leprince also painted

marine art Marine art or maritime art is a form of figurative art (that is, painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture) that portrays or draws its main Sea in culture, inspiration from the sea. Maritime painting is a genre that depicts ships and the sea� ...

, scenes of Parisian life, works in the

troubadour style Taking its name from medieval troubadours, the Troubadour Style (french: Style troubadour) is a rather derisive term, in English usually applied to French historical painting of the early 19th century with idealised depictions of the Middle Ages a ...

, portraits, and the

Forest of Fontainebleau The forest of Fontainebleau (french: Forêt de Fontainebleau, or ''Forêt de Bière'', meaning "forest of heather") is a mixed deciduous forest lying southeast of Paris, France. It is located primarily in the arrondissement of Fontainebleau i ...

, which had just begun to attract a new generation of French artists. He also specialized in painting the human figures for a number of landscape painters, including Nicolas Alexandre Barbier,

Étienne Bouhot Étienne Bouhot (8 August 1780 – 17 July 1862) was a French painter and art teacher. Bouhot was born in Bard-lès-Époisses. He was the director of the ''École de Dessin'' (''School of Drawing'') in Semur-en-Auxois. He died in Semur-en ...

Alexandre-Hyacinthe Dunouy Alexandre-Hyacinthe Dunouy (1757 – 11 November 1841) was a French painter known for his landscapes. A native of Paris, Dunouy began his career depicting views of the city and the surrounding region, exhibiting at the Paris Salon for the ...

, André Giroux,

Charles-Caïus Renoux Charles-Caius Renoux (born in Paris, 1795; died in Paris, 14 March 1846) was a French painter, lithographer, and illustrator. He first achieved success with paintings of medieval churches, particularly the ruins of cloisters and monasteries destro ...

, and . This practice of being a "general contractor" to artists "who do not have the courage to study the figures of men or animals to adorn their works" was criticized by one writer, who argued that it would surely "detach many jewels from his crown in public esteem." The critic nonetheless praised Leprince's "wit, verve, originality, finesse, and great facility in composition and execution." Leprince's skill at figure painting was appreciated by

Corot CoRoT (French: ; English: Convection, Rotation and planetary Transits) was a space telescope mission which operated from 2006 to 2013. The mission's two objectives were to search for extrasolar planets with short orbital periods, particularly th ...

, and speculates that Corot was influenced by Leprince. Works such as the watercolor ''A Ceremony on the Capitoline Hill in Rome'', dated 1821, provide evidence of travel to Italy. In 1822, from the Société des Amis des Arts, Leprince received a commission to commemorate the valiant efforts of French doctors and nuns who had traveled to Barcelona in response to an epidemic of

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...

, which killed an estimated 20,000 inhabitants. The resulting painting was an ambitious panorama with more than forty figures, variously called ''Peste de Barcelone'' or ''Les Médecins français et les Sœurs de Saint-Camille à Barcelone''. ''La Nouveauté'' called it a "very remarkable" work "which announced a very distinguished talent." The painting was praised and minutely described by

Charles Paul Landon Charles Paul Landon (12 October 17605 March 1826) was a French painter and popular writer on art and artists. Life and work Landon was born in Nonant and entered the studio of Jean-Baptiste Regnault, where he made a lifelong friendship with Robe ...

in a volume of his ''Annales du Musée et de l'École moderne des beaux-arts'', which included a fold-out reproduction, currently the only known image of Leprince's painting. In 1824, inspired to paint the coast of

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

, Leprince began sharing a studio with

Eugène Isabey Eugène Louis Gabriel Isabey (22 July 1803, in Paris – 25 April 1886, in Montévrain) was a French painter, lithographer and watercolorist in the Romantic style. Biography He was born to Jean-Baptiste Isabey, a well known painter who ...

. File:Leprince--Ceremony at Rome--watercolor--1821.jpg, ''A Ceremony on the Capitoline Hill in Rome'', watercolor, 1821, private collection. File:Leprince--Medecins Barcelone--1822.webp, ''Peste de Barcelone'', lithograph of painting of 1822. File:Auguste-Xavier_Leprince,_Preparing_the_Nets,_1823,_private_collection.jpg, ''Preparing the Nets'', 1823, private collection. File:Leprince--Salon_Literraire--1823--Frick.tif, ''Salon littéraire'', photographic reproduction of drawing dated 1823. File:Leprince--peasant by a fire 1824.jpg, Peasants by a fire, 1824, private collection. File:Leprince,_Confort_et_misère_à_Paris.jpg, ''Confort et misère à Paris'',

Nationalmuseum Nationalmuseum (or National Museum of Fine Arts) is the national gallery of Sweden, located on the peninsula Blasieholmen in central Stockholm. The museum's operations stretches far beyond the borders of Blasieholmen, the nationalmuseum manag ...

, Stockholm, undated.

Patronage of du Sommerard

By 1822, the year Leprince turned 23, his talents as a painter had attracted the patronage of the antiquarian Alexandre du Sommerard, whose collection of medieval art and artifacts would become the

Musée de Cluny The Musée de Cluny ("Cluny Museum", ), also known as Musée national du Moyen Âge – Thermes et hôtel de Cluny ("National Museum of the Middle Ages – Cluny thermal baths and mansion"), is a museum of the Middle Ages in Paris, Fr ...

. Du Sommerard included lithographs of four works by Leprince in his highly influential ''Vues de Provins'', which also included four works by Xavier's younger brother, Léopold Leprince. The book, an illustrated tour of medieval churches and abbeys, many of them reduced to ruins in the violence of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

, was part of an artistic and literary movement, the

, that romanticized the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

in France. About Leprince's ''Vue de la partie des fortifications dite le Trou du Chat'', the art historian Pierre Bénard writes, "Is there not something

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

ian in the peaceful herd immortalized by Xavier Leprince at the foot of a tower of the ramparts?" At the Paris Salon of 1824, Leprince exhibited a full-length portrait of his patron, listed in the catalogue as ''Portrait en pied de M. du S… dans son cabinet''. Its location is unknown. At the time of his death, Leprince left unfinished two paintings commissioned by du Sommerard. One was ''The Artist's Studio''. The other depicted an elderly collector conferring with a Jewish antiques dealer and surrounded by prized artifacts from his collection, entitled ''L’Antiquaire'' (''The Antiquarian''). To complete this painting, du Sommerard commissioned another of his protégés,

, who did so "with rare talent." It was displayed in the Paris Salon of 1827. A contemporary reviewer noted that "at the time of Xavier Leprince's death, the two figures alone were made, and the rest was hardly sketched out. It is M. Renoux who was commissioned to complete this interior," consisting of furniture, armor, and numerous ''objets d'art'' from the Middle Ages; "finally everything comes together to make this painting a precious piece." The contemporary critic

Auguste Jal Auguste Jal (12 April 1795, in Lyon – 5 April 1873) was a French author who wrote on maritime archaeology and history. Biography He was educated at the naval school in Brest, and led a company of the cadets in the defense of Paris during the H ...

declared the painting "a perfect work." ''L’Antiquaire'' has been cited by modern scholars researching the history of antiquarianism and the invention of the modern museum. File:Vues de Provins--Vue de la partie des fortifications dite le Trou du Chat.png, ''Vue de la partie des fortifications dite le Trou du Chat'', from ''Vues de Provins'', 1822. File:Vues de Provins--Vue des ruines de Saint-Jacques.jpg, ''Vue des ruines de Saint-Jacques'', from ''Vues de Provins'', 1822. File:Vues de Provins--Vue du Bâtiment des Eaux Minérales.jpg, ''Vue du Bâtiment des Eaux Minérales'', from ''Vues de Provins'', 1822. File:Vues de Provins--Vue du Portail de l'église de Saint-Ayoul.jpg, ''Vue du Portail de l'église de Saint-Ayoul'', from ''Vues de Provins'', 1822. File:Renoux--Antiquaire--1827.jpg, ''L'Antiquaire'', finished by

, 1827

''The Artist's Studio'' and artists ''en plein air''

At an unusually early age, especially if he was in fact a self-taught painter, Leprince opened an atelier and accepted pupils. In the last year of his life he began work on a highly-detailed painting depicting himself and his circle of artists, students, and patrons, following in the tradition of atelier paintings such as

Louis-Léopold Boilly Louis-Léopold Boilly (; 5 July 1761 – 4 January 1845) was a French Painting, painter and draftsman. A gifted creator of popular portrait paintings, he also produced a vast number of genre paintings vividly documenting French middle-class social ...

's ''Gathering of Artists in the Studio of Isabey'' (1798).

The highly detailed canvas shows how artists worked, what tools were used, and how brushes were held. Plaster casts of well-known classical sculptures, including the Laocöon and the
Venus de Milo The ''Venus de Milo'' (; el, Αφροδίτη της Μήλου, Afrodíti tis Mílou) is an ancient Greek sculpture that was created during the Hellenistic period, sometime between 150 and 125 BC. It is one of the most famous works of ancient ...
, are displayed around the room. Two classical busts, perched high on a shelf at right, appear to look down like spectators on the informal assembly of students, patrons, and critics. Leprince is the figure seen from the back in profile seated before the large painting to the right of center. The canvas he is working on is ''Loading of Livestock at Honfleur'', which he exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1824 and was purchased two years later by King Charles X of France. The inscription on the stretcher notes that this painting was commissioned by M. du Sommerard, Leprince's chief patron. In 1869 it was purchased by Octave de Labastie, the figure seated before an easel, fifth from the left.

Leprince's painting

includes no fewer than seven easels and nine painters with spectators. The focus is not on a single artist, in other words, but on several different ones. The studio was in a property called “la Childebert”, after its address at 9, , close to what is now the boulevard Saint-Germain-des-Prés in the sixth arrondissement of Paris. Here Auguste-Xavier Leprince shared a studio with his brothers, Robert-Léopold (1800–1847) and Gustave Leprince (1810–1837)…Preliminary studies are preserved in the Musée Magnin in Dijon, including for the group of figures to the left and for another in the background…A distinguishing feature of both the studies and the finished painting is the individual character of the people represented, showing that they were intended to be identifiable. They presumably included not just some of the main artists of the neighbourhood, but also no doubt prominent officials and collectors…The ambitious studio interior with some thirty figures which Leprince painted the year he died was a commemorative portrait of the three brothers and their immediate circle designed to impress, but also with an element of humour.

The painting was unfinished at the time of Leprince's death. To finish it, Du Sommerard commissioned one of Leprince's pupils,

. When it was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1827, the catalogue noted: "Of the thirty figure-portraits included in the composition, nineteen had been completed by Mr. Xavier Leprince before his premature death; the eleven others and various details are by the hand of Mr. Eugène Potdevin ic" The second figure from left, seated at an easel, is thought to be a portrait of Lepoittevin, either by his own hand or by that of Leprince. Another artist known to appear in the painting is Augustin Enfantin (1793-1827), but the figure depicting him has not been identified. Du Sommerard presumably appears, but his image has not been identified. In 1982, ''The Artist's Studio'' was acquired by the

Chazen Museum of Art The Chazen Museum of Art is an art museum located at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in Madison, Wisconsin. The Chazen Museum of Art is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. History Until 2005, the Museum was known regularly as th ...

at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

. Two oil on canvas works which appear to be studies for the painting are in the collection of the

Musée Magnin The Musée Magnin is a national museum in the French city of Dijon in Burgundy, in the Côte-d'Or department, with a collection of around 2,000 works of art collected by Maurice Magnin and his sister Jeanne and bequeathed to the state in 1938 alo ...

in Dijon. ''Intérieur d'atelier'' depicts the figure thought to be Leprince in the finished painting, seated before a blank canvas; ''Le Peintre dans son atelier'' depicts the seated figure thought to portray Eugène Lepoittevin. In the years leading up to ''The Artist's Studio'', Leprince made numerous studies of artists, notably ''Studio Interior with Artists Working'' (1820), now in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, and many drawings of artists in sketchbooks held by the Louvre. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince--Intérieur d'atelier--Musée Magnin--Dijon.png, Attributed to Leprince, ''Intérieur d'atelier'', c. 1826,

, Dijon. File:The Artist's Studio by Auguste-Xavier Leprince, 1826, oil on canvas - Chazen Museum of Art - DSC02202 (cropped-2).JPG, Detail from ''The Artist's Studio'' showing figures thought to be Leprince (right), his father, and his brothers Léopold (left) and Gustave. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince--Le Peintre dans son atelier--Musée Magnin--Dijon.png, Attributed to Leprince, ''Le Peintre dans son atelier'', c. 1826,

, Dijon. File:The Artist's Studio by Auguste-Xavier Leprince, 1826, oil on canvas - Chazen Museum of Art - DSC02202 (cropped).JPG, Detail from ''The Artist's Studio'' showing the figure thought to depict

. File:Auguste-Xavier LePrince - Studio Interior with Artists Working - NM 7509 - Nationalmuseum.jpg, ''Studio Interior with Artists Working'', 1820,

, Stockholm. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince, Note manuscrite; homme assis; femme; peintre à son chevalet, 1823,Louvre.jpg, ''Note manuscrite; homme assis; femme; peintre à son chevalet'', 1823,

Louvre Museum The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

. File:Auguste Xavier Leprince, , Un peintre et un jeune homme assis, Louvre.jpg, ''Un peintre et un jeune homme assis'',

. File:Auguste Xavier Leprince, Un peintre et un jeune homme assis, Louvre.jpg, ''Un peintre et un jeune homme assis'',

. Leprince also depicted artists

en plein air ''En plein air'' (; French for 'outdoors'), or ''plein air'' painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein air' painting ...

(outdoors), notably in ''Halte des peintres à Fontainebleau'' (''Painters at Rest, Fontainebleau''; c. 1824), which was included in the 2008 exhibition "In the Forest of Fontainebleau: Painters and Photographers from Corot to Monet" at the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

. "It is quite common for artists to represent themselves at work. But the originality of Leprince's work is to show them discovering the splendor of the landscape of Fontainebleau. Leprince places the painters in the center of the foreground of the composition and draws them very small. They are thus the scale marker of this landscape which becomes, through this artifice, monumental in the eyes of the spectator." File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince, Painters at Rest, Fontainebleau, c. 1824.jpg, ''Halte des peintres à Fontainebleau'', c. 1824,

Musée départemental de l'Oise The ''Musée départemental de l'Oise'' (MUDO, Museum of the Oise Department) is a museum in the former bishop's palace in Beauvais, Oise, in northern France. It is classified as a historical monument. Building history The museum is housed in th ...

Beauvais Beauvais ( , ; pcd, Bieuvais) is a city and commune in northern France, and prefecture of the Oise département, in the Hauts-de-France region, north of Paris. The commune of Beauvais had a population of 56,020 , making it the most populous ...

. File:Leprince--Deux artistes discutant dans un paysage--1821.jpg, ''Deux artistes discutant dans un paysage'', 1821, private collection. File:Auguste Xavier Leprince, Deux peintres dessinant, dans la tour de César, à Provins, 1822, Louvre.jpg, ''Deux peintres dessinant, dans la tour de César, à Provins'', 1822,

. File:Leprince, Woman sketching, watercolor, Clark Art Institute.jpg, Woman sketching, watercolor, before 1827,

Clark Art Institute The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, commonly referred to as the Clark, is an art museum and research institution located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. Its collection consists of European and American paintings, sculp ...

Illustrations and lithographs

For popular consumption, Leprince also created book illustrations and works for reproduction as lithographs. In the estate sale that followed his death, one lot was described as "fifty lithographed pieces, comprising the complete work of everything M. X. Leprince has executed in lithography." Not too far from boyhood himself, he provided illustrations for ''Les Jeux des jeunes garçons'' (''The Games of Young Boys''), published in 1822. The book was a popular success (the entry at worldcat.org notes a fifth edition), and was followed a year later by the fanciful ''Jeux des jeunes filles de tous les pays'' (''Games of Young Girls of All Countries''). File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince, Le Monde renversè, Le Chat et le Rat--1821.jpg, ''Le Monde renversè, Le Chat et le Rat'', 1821; from the book ''Les Jeux des jeunes garçons'', 1822. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince, --L' Assaut de la butte--1821.jpg, ''L' Assaut de la butte'', 1821; from the book ''Les Jeux des jeunes garçons'', 1822. File:Xavier Leprince, girls playing seesaw in the snow, 1822.jpg, ''La Bascule Russe'', 1822; reproduced in the book ''Jeux des jeunes filles de tous les pays'', 1823 In 1819, Leprince created a series of at least three small paintings depicting travel by stagecoach (in French, ''diligence''). A touch of ribaldry at once realistic and fanciful can be see in ''Le depart de la Diligence''; off to one side, a male passenger renders the artist's signature and the date by urinating against a wall. This link between stagecoach travel and a certain raucous sense of humor was given free rein in Leprince's ''Inconvéniens d'un Voyage en Diligence'', an album of hand-colored satirical lithographs depicting the perils and humiliations of travel by stagecoach, published in 1826. The "suite of twelve highly amusing plates" are to be found today only as "an extremely rare color-plate book. Plate No. 5 presents an amusing, if cautionary, ''piece de l'emesis vue de la nausée'' as a coach speeds along, causing the damsel riding atop it to hurl her cookies, which carom off a passenger's head and into a roadside beggar's chapeau." The series won high praise.

Jacques Arago Jacques Étienne Victor Arago (6 March 1790 – 27 November 1855) was a French writer, artist and explorer, author of a ''Voyage Round the World''. Biography Jacques was born in Estagel, Pyrénées-Orientales. He was the brother of François Ara ...

wrote, "Shall we not put, next to our most caustic creators,

Henry Monnier Henry-Bonaventure Monnier (7 June 1799 in Paris – 3 January 1877) was a French playwright, caricaturist and actor. Life After studying at the Lycée Bonaparte, he frequented the workshops of Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson and Antoine-Jean G ...

and Xavier Leprince, to whom caricature owes its most biting productions?" "Everyone knows the charming lithographs where Mr. Xavier Leprince captured…all the disagreeableness reserved for poor travelers taking the stagecoach," begins a review of a play based on the lithographs. The comedy ''Inconvéniens d'un Voyage en Diligence'' premiered at the

Théâtre des Variétés The Théâtre des Variétés is a theatre and "salle de spectacles" at 7–8, boulevard Montmartre, 2nd arrondissement, in Paris. It was declared a monument historique in 1974. History It owes its creation to the theatre director Mademoiselle ...

in Paris on Saturday, 11 November 1826, six weeks before Leprince's death. The

Musée Carnavalet The Musée Carnavalet in Paris is dedicated to the history of the city. The museum occupies two neighboring mansions: the Hôtel Carnavalet and the former Hôtel Le Peletier de Saint Fargeau. On the advice of Baron Haussmann, the civil servant wh ...

in Paris and the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

in London both hold incomplete sets of ''Inconvéniens'', but between the two, all the images can be seen. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince, Le depart de la Diligence, 1819.jpg, ''Le depart de la Diligence'', 1819. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince, Le depart de la Diligence, 1819 (cropped).jpg, Detail from ''Le depart de la Diligence'', 1819. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince, title page, Inconvéniens d'un Voyage en Diligence, 1826.jpg, ''Inconvéniens d'un voyage en diligence'', title page, 1826, private collection. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince, Inconvéniens d'un voyage en diligence--1--Carnavalet.jpg, ''Inconvéniens d'un voyage en diligence'', plate 1, 1826,

. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince, Inconvéniens d'un voyage en diligence--2--British Museum.jpg, ''Inconvéniens d'un voyage en diligence'', plate 2, 1826,

. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince, Inconvéniens d'un voyage en diligence--3--Carnavalet.jpg, ''Inconvéniens d'un voyage en diligence'', plate 3, 1826,

. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince, Inconvéniens d'un voyage en diligence--4--Carnavalet.jpg, ''Inconvéniens d'un voyage en diligence'', plate 4, 1826,

. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince, Inconvéniens d'un voyage en diligence--5--Carnavalet.jpg, ''Inconvéniens d'un voyage en diligence'', plate 5, 1826,

. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince, Inconvéniens d'un voyage en diligence--6--Carnavalet.jpg, ''Inconvéniens d'un voyage en diligence'', plate 6, 1826,

. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince, Inconvéniens d'un voyage en diligence--7--Carnavalet.jpg, ''Inconvéniens d'un voyage en diligence'', plate 7, 1826,

. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince, Inconvéniens d'un voyage en diligence--8--Carnavalet.jpg, ''Inconvéniens d'un voyage en diligence'', plate 8, 1826,

. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince, Inconvéniens d'un voyage en diligence--9--Carnavalet.jpg, ''Inconvéniens d'un voyage en diligence'', plate 9, 1826,

. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince, Inconvéniens d'un voyage en diligence--10--Carnavalet.jpg, ''Inconvéniens d'un voyage en diligence'', plate 10, 1826,

. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince, Inconvéniens d'un voyage en diligence--11--British Museum.jpg, ''Inconvéniens d'un voyage en diligence'', plate 11, 1826,

. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince, Inconvéniens d'un voyage en diligence--12--British Museum.jpg, ''Inconvéniens d'un voyage en diligence'', plate 12, 1826,

. Since at least the 1920s, another album of hand-colored lithographs has been attributed to Leprince. ''Métamorphoses d'Arlequin, Parades: Jouées sur le Théâtre Français'', a set of twelve images published in Brussels in 1826, is "a fascinating and intriguing album that appears to be a political allegory with the theater as backdrop and Harlequin as character in the political events in France 1791-1826. The fact that the album was published, without publisher or artist attribution, in Belgium rather than France strongly suggests fear of running afoul of French press censorship laws of the era." Authorship has also been attributed to , "but that cannot be so," according to rare book dealer David Brass. "Close comparison with caricatures signed by Leprince and Fontallard conclusively demonstrate that the style here is dramatically different than Fontallard's but extremely close to Leprince's, particularly in the faces of the figures depicted." The

Metropolitan Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, which acquired a copy in 1966, lists attribution to J.J. Grandville. ''Métamorphoses d'Arlequin'' awaits the attention of scholars who may determine its authorship and elucidate its satirical nuances. File:Title page from Métamorphoses d'Arlequin.webp, Title page, ''Métamorphoses d'Arlequin'', 1826. File:Image 1 from Métamorphoses d'Arlequin.jpg, Image 1, ''Métamorphoses d'Arlequin'', 1826. File:Image 2 from Métamorphoses d'Arlequin.jpg, Image 2, ''Métamorphoses d'Arlequin'', 1826. File:Image 3 from Métamorphoses d'Arlequin.jpg, Image 3, ''Métamorphoses d'Arlequin'', 1826.

Portraits and self-portraits

A portrait of Leprince by Victor-René Garson was shown in the Paris Salon of 1822. A miniature portrait of Leprince by Frédéric Millet was shown at the Paris Salon of 1824,Miel, p. 237. and in 1896 at an exposition at the Bishop's Palace in Chartres. The location of these works is unknown. A black and white photograph of a self-portrait by Leprince is in the Frick Digital Collections; the location and date of the original painting are unknown. Du Sommerard speaks of ''Paysage de Susten en Suisse'' (1824, now in the

) as a self-portrait, saying Leprince "pictured himself, from memory, with his pupils, braving the harshness of the frost to study nature in all its effects"; if Leprince is the seated figure with a sketchbook, his head is down and his face is not visible. Similarly, in his self-portrait in ''The Artist's Studio'', Leprince's face is turned away from the viewer. Leprince painted and drew family members (including portraits of his father and his brother Gustave dated 1824, at the ), and also celebrities, including an early portrait of

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

. File:Leprince--self-portrait--Frick.png, ''Le jeune artiste'' (self-portrait). File:Frédéric Millet, portrait of a young man, c 1817, Louvre.jpg, Frédéric Millet, miniature portrait on ivory (possibly Leprince),

. File:Leprince--famille 1820 or 1821.jpg, The artist's family in an interior, 1820 or 1821, private collection. File:Xavier Leprince--Simon Chenard in the role of Père Morin, 1821, Auxerre,musée d'Art et d'Histoire.jpg, Simon Chenard in the play "Félix ou l'Enfant trouvé," 1821, Musée d'art et d'histoire Saint-Germain, Auxerre. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince, Portrait de Simon Chenard, 1822, Musée Carnavalet.jpg, Simon Chénard in the play "Zémire et Azor," 1822,

. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince, portrait of Franz Liszt, 1824.jpg, Portrait of Franz Liszt, 1824. File:Xavier Leprince, Leopold malade, 1824, private collection.png, ''Léopold eprincemalade'', 1824, private collection. File:Leprince (attrib)--Portrait François-Joseph Talma--Musée Carnavalet.jpg, Portrait of

François-Joseph Talma François Joseph Talma (15 January 1763 – 19 October 1826) was a French actor. Life He was born in Paris. His father, a dentist, moved to London, and saw that his son received a good English education. François Joseph returned to Paris, whe ...

(attributed), undated,

Death

With the publication of ''Inconvéniens d'un Voyage en Diligence'', and his work on major commissions from du Sommerard, 1826 was a busy and productive year for Leprince, but at some point he became ill. When the condition lingered and his health deteriorated, doctors advised a move to a milder climate; Leprince went with his father to

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

. "We had conceived the hope that the beautiful sky in the south of France would restore him to health; but this hope has been deceived!" lamented Féréol Bonnemaison. The symptoms and attempted cure suggest

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

. Bonnemaison calls it a "long-lasting pulmonary condition." Du Sommerard describes "a chest condition" and a "long agony," and the attempted cure: "he was forced, according to the opinion of the doctors, to tear himself away, a few months ago…to go and expire in a foreign place, in that privileged climate which a barbaric routine and, often, an even more barbaric sensibility unnecessarily assign as a resource to our patients, for whom it almost always becomes the tomb." On the day after Christmas, 1826, Xavier Leprince died in Nice. "His last sighs were received by his father, whom no consideration, even that of serious infirmities, could separate from his son, until the fatal event which brought him back alone."

Legacy

Auguste-Xavier Leprince - Paysage de Susten en Suisse, 1824

Leprince's works testify to strong fraternal and paternal ties, a high-spirited sense of humor, immense energy, and expansive talents. The shared grief evoked by his premature death is cited by Bonnemaison, who says that "his friends, the most distinguished artists of all genres, the most commendable men of all ranks, shared and still share his parents' pain. He lives in everyone's memory, less perhaps by the originality of his talent than by the graces of his mind and the constant sweetness of his character!" The obituary in ''La Nouveauté'' also noted Leprince's sweet disposition. As a teacher, Leprince, in du Sommerard's words, "left behind two brothers whom he was keen to make rivals." Gustave Leprince showed a number of landscapes at the Paris Salon from 1831 to 1837, but his career, like that of his oldest brother, was cut short by an early death (in 1837, at age twenty-six or twenty-seven). Léopold Leprince enjoyed considerable success as a landscape painter, exhibited works at the Paris Salon from 1822 to 1844, and had paintings acquired by a number of French museums, including three at the

. Among Leprince's other successful pupils were Nicolas Alexandre Barbier, ,

, and

Charles Mozin Charles Mozin (Paris, March 12, 1806 - Trouville-sur-Mer, November 7, 1862) was a List of French painters, French painter, Drafter, draftsman and Lithography, lithographer. Biography Born into a family of musicians, his brother, Théodore Mozin ...

. In a career of only ten years, Leprince accomplished much, but he remained humble about his achievements. Du Sommerard says that Leprince "was not so deceived" by quick success "as to believe himself to be an accomplished artist. Tormented by the thought, mature beyond his years, 'that a name too soon famous is a heavy burden,' he felt the need to strengthen his natural talents by continual and perhaps too constant study, in the hope of satisfying both the taste of art-lovers and the more demanding expectations of the masters of art." A generation after his death, Leprince would be remembered as "one of the most elegant painters of the 19th century school," and in 1886 Paul Marmottan would declare him a "great artist" possessing a talent "very spirited, very French." The 1904 edition of ''Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers'' would note that Leprince's "village fairs, carnivals, corps de garde, and a great variety of other subjects are to be found in some of the best collections." The art historian Henry Marcel found Leprince's work akin to that of Boilly, "but with a greater variety of motifs and a more lively style." Leprince's works continue to attract collectors, as well as curatorial interest, as can be seen by the display of his paintings at both the

and the

, and a drive to acquire his works by the

in Stockholm. But there has not been a large-scale exhibit dedicated to his works, and no catalogue raissoné has been published.

Leprince in Museums

File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince--Marché aux chevaux dans un bourg normand--Dijon.jpg, ''Marché aux chevaux dans un bourg normand'', undated,

, Dijon. File:Auguste-Xavier_Leprince_-_Concert_dans_un_jardin_public_-_P1933_-_Mus%C3%A9e_Carnavalet.jpg, ''Concert dans un jardin public'', c. 1820,

. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince - Embarquement de bestiaux sur le ‚Passager‘ dans le port de Honfleur (1823).jpg, ''Embarquement de bestiaux sur le Passager dans le port de Honfleur'', 1823,

. File:At Barrière de la Villette, Paris (Auguste-Xavier LePrince) - Nationalmuseum - 181922 (cropped).tif, ''La Barrière de la Villette'', 1823,

, Stockholm. File:A Shepherd and a Rider on a Country Lane Auguste-Xavier Leprince.jpg, A Shepherd and a Rider on a Country Lane, c. 1823,

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

. File:Man in Oriental Costume in the Artist’s Studio Auguste-Xavier Leprince.jpg, Man in Oriental Costume in the Artist's Studio, c. 1823-1826,

. File:Auguste-Xavier Leprince, Le marchand de chansons, 1825.jpg, ''Le marchand de chansons'', 1825,

Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations The Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations (Mucem; French: ''Musée des Civilisations de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée'') is a national museum located in Marseille, France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), i ...

, Marseille.

Paris

*''Embarquement de bestiaux sur le Passager dans le port de '', 1823,

. *''Paysage de Susten en Suisse'', 1824,

. *Leprince's sketchbooks, with hundreds of drawings,

. *''L'aqueduc d'Arcueil'', 1820,

. *''Concert dans un jardin public'', c. 1820,

. *Portrait of

(attributed), before 1827,

. *''Carnaval au Boulevard du Temple'' and ''La fête des Loges'', photographs c. 1900 by Albert Brichaut of two otherwise unknown paintings by Leprince,

. *''Le port d'Honfleur, l'embarquement des bestiaux'', c. 1823,

Petit Palais The Petit Palais (; en, Small Palace) is an art museum in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Built for the 1900 Exposition Universelle ("universal exhibition"), it now houses the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts (''Musée des beaux-arts ...

Dijon

*''L'Aveugle et les enfants'', watercolor, 1822,

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

. *''Pêcheur ficelant une bourriche de poissons'', c. 1826,

. *''Intérieur d'atelier'' (attributed), c. 1826,

. *''Le Peintre dans son atelier'' (attributed), c. 1826,

. *''Marché aux chevaux dans un bourg normand'',

Elsewhere in France

*''Paysage et berger'', 1820, Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie de Châlons-en-Champagne. *''Simon Chénard in the play "Félix ou l'Enfant trouvé"'', 1821, Musée d'art et d'histoire Saint-Germain, Auxerre. *''Halte des peintres à Fontainebleau'', c. 1824,

. *''Paysage, bergere sur un ane'', 1817,

. *''Paysage, chemin montagneux'', 1817,

. *''Paysage avec une charette'' (attributed), Musée des beaux-arts,

Chambéry Chambéry (, , ; Arpitan: ''Chambèri'') is the prefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of eastern France. The population of the commune of Chambéry was 58,917 as of 2019, while the population of the Chambér ...

. *''Paysage'' (attributed), Musée des beaux-arts,

. *''Portrait of Anne-Pierre Leprince'' and ''Portrait of Gustave Leprince'', 1824, . *''Vue d'une prairie'' by Alexandre Hyacinthe Dunouy, with figures by Leprince,

Musée Thomas-Henry The Musée des beaux-arts Thomas Henry is a museum at Cherbourg-en-Cotentin (Manche) with around 300 artworks, mainly paintings from the 15th to 19th centuries. It has been rated as the third most important collection in Normandy.�Musée des beaux- ...

Cherbourg-Octeville Cherbourg-Octeville () is a former commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France.

. *''Le marchand de chansons'', 1825,

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

*''Vieillard enchaîné dans un cachot'', . *''Henri IV faisant entrer des vivres dans Paris qu'il assiège'', gouache, 1821, Musée national du château de Pau. *''Un chasseur a l'affut'' (attributed),

Musée Crozatier The Musée Crozatier is a museum in Le Puy-en-Velay in the French Auvergne. Inaugurated in 1868, its collection comprises art and archaeological artifacts from Velay and the Haute-Loire region. The museum has undergone a major renovation from 2 ...

Le Puy-en-Velay Le Puy-en-Velay (, literally ''Le Puy in Velay''; oc, Lo Puèi de Velai ) is the prefecture of the Haute-Loire department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of south-central France. Located near the river Loire, the city is famous for its ca ...

*''Paysage, étude'', 181?,

Musée des beaux-arts de Rouen The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen is an art museum in Rouen, in Normandy in north-western France. It was established by Napoléon Bonaparte in 1801, and is housed in a building designed by and built between 1877 and 1888. Its collections include ...

United States

*A Shepherd and a Rider on a Country Lane, c. 1823,

, New York. *Man in Oriental Costume in the Artist's Studio, c. 1823-1826,

, New York. *''The Artist's Studio'', completed by

, 1827,

*Watercolor sketches,

, Williamstown, Massachusetts.

Sweden

*Eight works by Leprince, all acquired since 2016, including the oil on paper sketch ''Studio Interior with Artists Working'', 1820,

, Stockholm.

Leprince at auction

Auguste-Xavier Leprince, A view of the coast at Le Havre by La Hève, 1825

A record price for a painting by Leprince was set by ''La moisson'' (1822), auctioned for €60,000 at Christie's in Paris in 2007. Other notable results include €52,875 for ''Les Patineurs'' (1823), Christie's Paris, 2003; $28,200 for ''A view of the coast at Le Havre by La Hève'' (1825), Christie's New York, 2000; and $24,000 for ''Landscape with a Farmhouse and Bridge'' (undated), Sotheby's New York, 2007. Historical prices for works by Leprince include the 1859 auction of ''Une Fête de Village'' for 700 francs"Chronique, Documents, Faits Divers"
''Revue Universelle des Arts'', tome 9, 1859, p. 287. and the 1907 auction in Paris of two small paintings dated 1819, ''Le Depart de la Diligence'' and ''L’Arivèe de la Diligence'', which sold for $4,500, equivalent to $128,870 in 2021.

References

Bibliography of publications by Leprince

*Leprince, Xavier (1822). ''Les Jeux des jeunes garçons représentés en 25 gravures à l'aqua-tints, d'après les dessins de Xavier Le Prince; avec l'explication détaillée des règles de chaque jeu; accompagnées de fables nouvelles par MM. Le Franc, Armand-Gouffé, etc. et suivis d'anecdotes relatives à chaque jeu''
5th edition
Paris: chez Nepveu, 1822. *Leprince, Xavier (1823)
''Jeux des jeunes filles de tous les pays, representés en vingt-cinq lithograhies dápres ou par MM. Xavier le Prince, Colin et Noel, offrant des coutumes de toutes les nations: avec l'explication detaillee des règles de chaque jeu : accompagnes de fables''
Paris: chez Nepveu et Alphonse Girou, 1823. *Leprince, Xavier (1825). ''Six petits tableaux'', six lithographs on papier de Chine from the collection of M. du Sommerard including ''Le Départ'', ''l'Arrivée'', ''la Laitière'', ''Saint Louis rendant la justice'','' la Fête-Dieu'' and ''l'Ecole de village'', Paris: chez Motte, 1825. *Leprince, Xavier (1826). ''Inconvéniens d'un Voyage en Diligence'', twelve hand-colored plates, original drawings by Leprince, lithography by Pierre Langlumé, Paris: Sazerac et Duval, 1826. *Leprince, Xavier (attributed, 1826). ''Métamorphoses d'Arlequin. Parades: Jouées sur le Théâtre Français'', twelve hand-colored plates, lithography by Pierre Langlumé, Brussels, 1826. *Leprince, Xavier, and Jacottet, Louis-Julien (1827). ''Vues pittoresques du Dauphiné et du Lyonnais, dessinées d'après nature'', sixteen lithographs on papier de Chine, Paris: Engelmann, Giraldon Bovinel, 1827.

Bibliography

*Bellier de La Chavignerie, Émile and Auvray, Louis
''Dictionnaire général des artistes de l'École française depuis l'origine des arts du dessin jusqu'à nos jours: architectes, peintres, sculpteurs, graveurs et lithographes''
vol. 1, Paris: 1882-1885. *Bénard, Pierre
"Du Sommerard à Provins: Le Plaisir des Ruines en 1822"
''Sites et monuments: bulletin de la Société pour la protection des paysages et de l'esthétique générale de la France'', July 1988, pp. 10–13. *Bolton, Roy and Strachan, Edward. "August-Xavier Leprince, The Harvest" in ''Russia & Europe in the Nineteenth Century'', gallery catalogue, Sphinx Fine Art, 2002, pp. 52–53. *Bonnemaison, Féréol
''Galerie de son Altesse Royale Madame la duchesse de Berry, Tome 2: École française, Peintres modernes''
notes on ''Les Patineurs'' and ''La Moisson'' (includes remarks on Leprince's recent death; he is incorrectly called Anne-Xavier Leprince), pages unnumbered, 1827. *Du Sommerard, Alexandre (1822)
''Vues de Provins, dessinées et lithographiées, en 1822, par plusieurs artistes, avec un texte par M. D.''
Paris: chez Gide, 1822; four images by Xavier Leprince and four by Léopold Leprince. *Du Sommerard, Alexandre (1827)
"Notice Nécrologique sur M. Xavier Leprince, Peintre de genre, mort à Nice le 26 décembre 1826"
''Journal des artistes'', 28 January 1827, pp. 56–58. *''Explication des ouvrages de peinture et dessins, sculpture, architecture et gravure des artistes vivans exposé au Musée Royal des Arts le 25 Août 1819''
"Le Prince" entries numbered 746-751, p. 82

''Explication des ouvrages de peinture et dessins, sculpture, architecture et gravure des artistes vivans exposé au Musée Royal des Arts le 4 Novembre 1827''
Paris: Ballard, 1827. *Gabet, Charles
''Dictionnaire des artistes de l'école française au XIXe siècle''
Paris: Chez Madame Vergne, 1831. *Gertz, Stephen J

Booktryst blog, 27 September 2011. *Haverkamp-Begemann, Egbert, Standish D. Lawder, and Charles W. Talbot, Jr. ''Drawings from the Clark Art Institute: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Robert Sterling Clark Collection of European and American Drawings, Sixteenth Through Nineteenth Centuries, at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown'', 2 volumes, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1964. *Jal, A
''Esquisses, croquis, pochades, ou, Tout ce qu'on voudra, sur le Salon de 1827''
Paris: Ambroise Dupont et Cie, 1827. *Landon, C.P
"''Les Médecins français et les Sœurs de Saint-Camille à Barcelone''; tableau de M. Xavier Le Prince"
in ''Annales du Musée et de l'École moderne des beaux-arts: Salon de 1822'', Paris: Landon, 1822, vol. 2, pp. 53–56 and fold-out plates 31 and 32. *Lejeune, Théodore Michel
''Guide théorique et pratique de l'amateur de tableaux: études sur les imitateurs et les copistes des maîtres de toutes les écoles, dont les oeuvres forment la base ordinaire des galeries''
Paris: Gide, 1863-1865. *''Les Salons retrouvés. Eclat de la vie artistique dans la France du Nord'', Lille: Associations des Conservateurs des Musées du Nord-Pas de Calais, 1993; he is incorrectly called Anne Xavier Leprince; see vol. 1, pp. 83, 120, 127-128, 203, 223; vol. 2, pp. 113, 186. *Marcel, Henry Camille
''La peinture française au XIXe siècle''
Paris: A. Picard & Kaan, 1905. *Marmottan, Paul
française de peinture (1789-1839)''
Paris: H. Laurens, 1886. *Marumo, Claude. ''Barbizon et les paysagistes du XIXe'', Éditions de l'amateur, 1975. *Miel, Edmé François Antoine Marie
''Revue critique des productions de peinture, sculpture, gravure, exposées au Salon de 1824''
Paris: J.G. Dentu, 1825. *Miller, Asher Ethan. "The Path of Nature: French Paintings from the Wheelock Whitney Collection, 1785–1850." ''Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin'' 70 (Winter 2013), p. 46, fig. 63 (A Shepherd and a Rider on a Country Lane) and fig. 64 (Man in Oriental Costume in the Artist's Studio).
''Notice de tableaux, dessins et estampes... vente par suite du décès de M. Xavier Leprince... 12 mars 1827...''
(catalogue of a sale of Leprince's works, by his family, about eleven weeks after his death, consisting of 267 lots), Paris: Imprimerie de A. Coniam, 1827, 22 pages. *Olausson, Magnus
"In the Artist's Studio: Auguste-Xavier Leprince and the Studio Interior as an Artistic Strategy"
''Art Bulletin of Nationalmuseum Stockholm'' 26:1 (2019), pp. 53–58. *Sébille, Nadège. "Biographie d’Eugène Le Poittevin" in ''L'invention d'Étretat: Eugène Le Poittevin, un peintre et ses amis à l'aube de l'impressionnisme'', Fécamp: éditions des Falaises, 2020, pp. 28–43. *Tinterow, Gary; Pantazzi, Michael; Pomarède, Vincent. ''Corot'', New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996.

External links

Works by Auguste-Xavier Leprince
in the Louvre, including hundreds of drawings and studies from sketchbooks.
Works by Robert-Léopold Leprince
in the Louvre.
Eighteen paintings by Xavier Leprince
in the collections of French museums.
Works by Auguste-Xavier Leprince
at the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
A commentary on Leprince's ''Paysage du Susten en Suisse'' (1824)
at vanishingice.org
A commentary on Leprince's ''Paysage du Susten en Suisse'' (1824)
at L'Histoire par l'Image {{DEFAULTSORT:Leprince, Xavier 1799 births 1826 deaths 19th-century French painters French male painters French landscape painters 19th-century French male artists