The Poulterer

Art Historical Context

**The Poulterer** (1908) is a delicate etching by French artist Louis Auguste Lepère, master printmaker renowned for capturing the vibrant everyday life of Paris. Created on cream laid paper, this work measures just 12.2 × 11.7 cm for the image, inviting close contemplation of its fine lines and textures. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints Drawings department, it exemplifiesère's skill in the etching revival of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Lepère, active during the Belle Époque, specialized in realist depictions of urban tradespeople and markets, blending meticulous detail with atmospheric depth. Etching, his preferred medium, allowed him to incise intricate patterns into a metal plate with acid, producing rich tonal variations that evoke the bustling energy of a poulterer's stall—feathers, birds, and all. This technique, rooted in 18th-century traditions but modernized for contemporary subjects, made prints like this accessible yet collectible art. Its small scale underscores the etching's role as an affordable alternative to paintings, popular among collectors. Today, **The Poulterer** offers a window into early 1900s Parisian commerce, highlighting Lepère's enduring legacy in preserving fleeting street scenes with technical precision and quiet humanity.

About the Artist

Louis Auguste Lepère · 1849–1918

Louis-Auguste Lepère (1849–1918) was born in Paris on November 30 to the sculptor François Lepère, immersing him early in the artistic world. At age thirteen, he apprenticed in the studio of the English wood engraver Joseph Burn-Smeeton, training there from 1862 to 1867, and later attended drawing courses under Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran at the Petite École (now École nationale supérieure des art...