Rouen
1888
Medium
wood engraving
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund
Accession Number
1974.62.5
Art Historical Context
**Rouen** by Auguste Lepère (1888) is a captivating wood engraving that invites visitors to explore the charm of this historic Norman city in France. Lepère, a masterful French illustrator and engraver active in the late 19th, specialized in detailed depictions of medieval architecture and urban scenes. Created during the Belle Époque, when artists celebrated France's picturesque past amid rapid modernization, this print likely captures Rouen's iconic half-timbered houses and spires, evoking a of timeless beauty. Wood engraving, Lepère's chosen medium, was a refined technique using the dense ...
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...