Léon Augustin Lhermitte

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Léon Augustin Lhermitte (also known as Léon Augustin L'hermitte). Born Mont-Saint-Pere, 1844, died Paris, 1925. French painter and etcher of the late nineteenth century. A student of Lecocq de Boisbourdran. A realist artist whose primary subject matter was of rural scenes depicting the peasant worker.

He gained recognition after his show in the Paris Salon in 1864.

His many awards include the French Legion of Honour (1884) and the Grand Prize at the Exposition Universelle in 1889.

Lhermitte’s innovative use of the then contemporary media of pastels won him the admiration of his contemporaries. Vincent Van Gogh wrote that “If every month Le Monde Illustré published one of his compositions...it would be a great pleasure for me to be able to follow it. It is certain that for years I have not seen anything as beautiful as this scene by Lhermitte...I am too preoccupied by Lhermitte this evening to be able to talk of other things.” (Léon Lhermitte 1844-1925_, ex. cat., Beverley Hills: New York: Galerie Michael; Altman/Burke Fine Art, 1989, unpaginated) ^[1]

Lhermitte's etchings and paintings are housed in museums around the world including Boston, Washington, Chicago, Montreal, Brussels, Rheims, Paris, Moscow and Florence.