Paris under Snow, View from St.-Gervais (Paris sous la neige, vu du haut de St.-Gervaais)
1890
Medium
wood engraving
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.5599
Art Historical Context
Behold *Paris under Snow, View from St.-Gerv* (1890), a captivating wood engraving by French artist Auguste Lepère. From the heights of the Saint-Gervais-Saint-Pro church in Paris's historic Marais district, Lep captures a rare wintry veil blanketing the city. Snow dusts rooftops, spires, and the Seine, transforming the bustling landscape into a serene, ethereal vista. Created during the Belle Époque, this print evokes the magic of a snow-dusted Paris at the turn of the century, when the city was a hub of artistic innovation and modernization. Lepère, a master of wood engraving, excelled in t...
About the Artist
Auguste Lepère · 1849–1918
Auguste-Louis Lepère (1849–1918), son of the sculptor François Lepère, was born in Paris on November 30, 1849, into an artistic family that shaped his early path. At age thirteen, he apprenticed in the Paris studio of the English wood engraver Joseph Burn Smeeton, honing his skills in wood engraving until 1867. He furthered his training with drawing classes under Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran at the...