Gobelins Quarter (Le quartier des Gobelins)
1893
Medium
etching with aquatint
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.5582
Art Historical Context
Auguste Lepère's *Gobelins Quarter (Le quartier des Gobel)*, created in 1893, the bustling energy of a historic Paris neighborhood renowned for its royal tapestry manufactory, the Gobelins, established in the 17th century. This etching with aquatint, part of the National Gallery of Art's Rosenwald Collection reflects the late 19th-century fascination with urban life during the Belle Époque, artists like Lepère documented the city's evolving streets and working-class districts with vivid realism. Lepère, a master French printmaker (1849–1918), excelled in techniques that brought depth and atmo...
About the Artist
Auguste Lepère · 1849–1918
Auguste-Louis Lepère (1849–1918), son of the sculptor François Lepère, was born in Paris on November 30, 1849, into an artistic family that shaped his early path. At age thirteen, he apprenticed in the Paris studio of the English wood engraver Joseph Burn Smeeton, honing his skills in wood engraving until 1867. He furthered his training with drawing classes under Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran at the...