Louis-auguste Lapito (1803-1874) Fontainebleau: Landscape Painter Looking For His Viewpoint

Oil on canvas signed "A. Lapito" lower right, depicting a romantic wooded landscape: a sunken path winds between banks planted with tall trees, enlivened by two figures, beneath a luminous, cloud-filled sky; to the left, a ruined antique column adds a picturesque note. A carefully wrought composition with a precise touch and a fine golden light, characteristic of Lapito's art.

Frame: 45 x 58 cm
Work: 30 x 42,5 cm

Louis-Auguste Lapito (Joinville-le-Pont, 1803 – Boulogne-sur-Seine, 1874) was a French landscape painter, a pupil of Louis-Étienne Watelet and François-Joseph Heim. A precursor of the Barbizon School and a friend of Corot, he worked regularly in the Forest of Fontainebleau and travelled throughout France, Switzerland, Italy and Corsica. He exhibited at the Paris Salon from 1827 to 1870, won a first-class medal (1835) and was appointed Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1836. The French State acquired several of his landscapes (for the châteaux of Saint-Cloud and Compiègne). His works are held in numerous French museums.