Fleury Epinat*(French, 1764-1830)

A coastal Landscape with two Horsemen watering their Horses below two large Trees

Details
Fleury Epinat*(French, 1764-1830)
A coastal Landscape with two Horsemen watering their Horses below two large Trees
signed 'Epinat'; black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash, on paper 30½ x 22¼in. (770 x 565mm.)

Lot Essay

Epinat followed David to Italy in 1785. When Epinat returned to France fifteen years later he abandoned history painting for historical landscape painting. In 1825 he travelled to England and Scotland with Lord Ailesbury, and painted La Dame du Lac, one of his most celebrated pictures.
A letter from Cacault written from Florence to the Commission des Relations Extérieures on 3 February 1795 mentions 'Lépinat' (sic): 'jeune peintre du Lyonnais, donne des leçons de dessin à Florence et gaigne (sic) ainsi sa vie'. [Young painter from Lyon, gives drawing lessons in Florence and so makes his living].
Another drawing by Epinat is in the Baderou collection in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen, M.-F. Pérez and D. Ternois, Artistes lyonnais (XVIIe-XIXe siècle) in La donation Baderou au musée de Rouen, Paris, 1980, fig. 17.