Breakfast Preparations

Art Historical Context

**Breakfast Preparations** (1893) is a delicate etching by French artist Louis Auguste Lepère capturing the quiet intimacy of everyday life in late 19th-century Paris. Created on cream laid paper, this intimate print measures just 13.5 × 19.8 cm, inviting viewers into a moment of domestic ritual—likely a bustling kitchen or market scene where breakfast is being prepared. Lepère, a master printmaker (1849–1918), excelled in etching, a technique where acid etches intricate lines into a metal plate, allowing for rich tonal contrasts and fine details that mimic the spontaneity of drawing. Etching held special significance during this era's revival of graphic arts in France, bridging Realism's focus on ordinary subjects with emerging influences from Japanese woodcuts. Lepère's work often celebrated urban vignettes, blending meticulous observation with subtle decorative flair, reflecting the fin-de-siècle fascination with the beauty in the mundane. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints and Drawings Department, this piece exemplifies how prints democratized art, making sophisticated imagery accessible beyond paintings. Imagine the aroma of fresh bread and coffee as Lepère's needle scratches out steam rising from pots or hands arranging provisions—a snapshot of Parisian routine that feels timelessly relatable.

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...