Guillaume François-Gabriel Lépaulle (21 January 1804,

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

28 August 1886,

Aÿ Aÿ ( ; also Ay) is a former communes of France, commune in the Marne (department), Marne Departments of France, department in northeastern France. On 1 January 2016 it was merged into the new commune Aÿ-Champagne. Champagne Aÿ is most famous a ...

) was a French painter associated with the Barbizon school. He painted landscapes historical works and

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

scenes, although his best known works are portraits.

Biography

He was a student of

Jean-Baptiste Regnault Jean-Baptiste Regnault (; 9 October 1754 – 12 November 1829) was a French painter. Biography Regnault was born in Paris, and began life at sea in a merchant vessel. At the age of fifteen his talent attracted attention, and he was sent to ...

Horace Vernet Émile Jean-Horace Vernet (; 30 June 178917 January 1863) more commonly known as simply Horace Vernet, was a French painter of battles, portraits, and Orientalist subjects. Biography Early career Vernet was born to Carle Vernet, another famo ...

and Jean-Victor Bertin at the

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in nor ...

. His debut at the

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

came in 1824, with a scene depicting the invention of the

lyre The lyre () (from Greek λύρα and Latin ''lyra)'' is a string instrument, stringed musical instrument that is classified by Hornbostel–Sachs as a member of the History of lute-family instruments, lute family of instruments. In organology, a ...

. Over the next few years, he became a regular annual contributor, with a profusion of subjects, based on his extensive travels to Spain, Italy, North Africa and Turkey. He also exhibited at the

Exposition Universelle (1855) The of 1855 (), better known in English as the 1855 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, France, from 15 May to 15 November 1855. Its full official title was the . It was the first of ten major expositions ...

Despite these scenes, ranging from the tragic to the picturesque, to the humorous, most were judged to have little merit. His high regard stems largely from his portraits, in the gallery at the

Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

, representing

Napoléon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...

, Admiral

Henri de Rigny Marie Henri Daniel Gauthier, comte de Rigny (; 2 February 1782 – 6 November 1835) was the commander of the French squadron at the Battle of Navarino in the Greek War of Independence. Biography Family He was a nephew of Baron Joseph Dom ...

, (

Duc de Plaisance {{Unreferenced, date=June 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) The French title of duc de Plaisance (English: Duke of Piacenza) was created on 24 April 1808 by Napoleon I for Charles-François Lebrun, Arch-Treasurer of the Empire and former French Consulat ...

) and many other prominent figures. He is also known for his decorative paintings at the churches of

Saint-Merri The Church of Saint-Merri or ''Église Saint-Merry'') is a parish church in Paris, located near the Centre Pompidou along the rue Saint Martin, in the 4th arrondissement on the Rive Droite (Right Bank). It is dedicated to the 7th century abbot o ...

and Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, as well as designing costumes for a performance of ''

Robert le Diable ''Robert le diable'' (''Robert the Devil'') is an opera in five acts composed by Giacomo Meyerbeer between 1827 and 1831, to a libretto written in French by Eugène Scribe and Germain Delavigne. ''Robert le diable'' is regarded as one of the first ...

'', by

Giacomo Meyerbeer Giacomo Meyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Meyer Beer; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German opera composer, "the most frequently performed opera composer during the nineteenth century, linking Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart and Richard Wa ...

, at the

Paris Opera The Paris Opera ( ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be kn ...

in 1835. The genre painter, , is one of his more notable students. His works may be seen at the Bibliothèque-musée de l'Opéra, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, and the Musée de l'Histoire de France

Gallery

File:Trio act5 Robert le Diable by Meyerbeer - second painting by Lépaulle 1835 - Letellier 2012.jpg, The trio in act 5 of

's opera

Robert le diable ''Robert le diable'' (''Robert the Devil'') is an opera in five acts composed by Giacomo Meyerbeer between 1827 and 1831, to a libretto written in French by Eugène Scribe and Germain Delavigne. ''Robert le diable'' is regarded as one of the first ...

with (from left to right): Nicolas Levasseur as Bertram,

Adolphe Nourrit Adolphe Nourrit (3 March 1802 – 8 March 1839) was a French operatic tenor, librettist, and composer. One of the most esteemed opera singers of the 1820s and 1830s, he was particularly associated with the works of Gioachino Rossini and Giacomo ...

as Robert, and

Cornélie Falcon Cornélie Falcon (28 January 1814 – 25 February 1897) was a French dramatic soprano who sang at the Opéra in Paris. Her greatest success was creating the role of Valentine in Meyerbeer's ''Les Huguenots''. She possessed "a full, resonant voi ...

as Alice, 1835 File:Louis-Alexandre Berthier, maréchal de camp, chef d'état-major en 1792 (1753-1815).jpg,

Louis-Alexandre Berthier Louis-Alexandre Berthier, prince de Neuchâtel et Valangin, prince de Wagram (; 20 November 1753 – 1 June 1815) was a French military commander who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was twice Minister of Wa ...

, field marshal, chief of staff in 1792 (1753-1815), 1834 File:François-Gabriel Lépaulle Mädchen aus Frascati 1839.jpg, Girl from Frascati in festive costume, 1839 File:Colonel George Fergusson Henry.jpg, Colonel George Fergusson Henry, honorary Bey at the Sultan's court File:Maria Elisabeth princess of Wagram.jpg, Princess Maria Elizabeth Amalie Franziska Wagram of Bavaria (1784–1849), Princess Wagram, 1832 File:Carnavalet - Jean-Pierre Dantan 01.jpg, Jean-Pierre Dantan (1800-1869) modeling the bust of Lépaulle

Sources

Gustave Vapereau Louis Gustave Vapereau (4 April 1819 – 18 April 1906) was a French writer and lexicographer famous primarily for his dictionaries, the ''Dictionnaire universel des contemporains'' and the ''Dictionnaire universel des littérateurs''. Biography ...

, ''Dictionnaire universel des contemporains'', 5th ed., Paris, Hachette, pg. 1144

External links

More works by Lépaulle
@ ArtNet
"François-Gabriel Lépaulle "
@ the Base Joconde
''François-Gabriel Lépaulle, peintre (1804-1886)''
by Monique Collet @ Google Books
A later photograph of Lépaulle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lepaulle, Francois-Gabriel 1804 births 1886 deaths 19th-century French painters French portrait painters French landscape painters French genre painters Decorative arts French costume designers Artists from Versailles Painters from Île-de-France