Dobiaschofsky
Reclining nude.
Oil on canvas
Original catalogue wording
Nu allongé.
Öl auf Leinwand
Date to be documented
Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed
View the lot at the auction house ↗SwissArtGallery · Documented identity
Léon Printemps
Born : 1871Died : 1945Documented citizenships : France
The French painter Léon Printemps, born and died in Paris (1871–1945), pursued a career that encompassed Symbolist painting, commissioned portraits and landscapes, the latter remaining a recurring thread in his work. His early subjects include poetic or mythological visions as well as the female nude; at the same time, he received commissions for portraits of figures such as Sully Prudhomme, the Prince and Princess of Waldeck, M. and Mme Commettant, and Prince Youssoupoff. Born on 26 May 1871 into a family from the Lille region, he was encouraged in his vocation by his uncle, the sculptor Jules Printemps, who prepared him for the entrance examination to the École des beaux-arts. Admitted in 1892, he joined Gustave Moreau’s studio and remained there until the master’s death in 1898. There he came into contact with, among others, Georges Rouault, Henri Matisse, Henri Evenepoel, Albert Marquet, Edmond Maxence and Fernand Milcendeau.
His travels took him to Belgium in 1894, on a trip during which he visited Bruges, Ghent, Mechelen and Antwerp; it has been reported as likely that other students of Moreau accompanied him. In 1897, he stayed in the Netherlands and visited the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Landscape remained central to his activity: after painting the beaches of Normandy, he painted seascapes after the First World War on the islands of the Vendée, particularly Noirmoutier and the Île d’Yeu, as well as portraits of fishermen and peasant women. Another group of portraits depicts people close to him. Married in 1903, Printemps frequently portrayed his family circle, particularly his daughter Lucile and his son René, in an intimate register. The documented body of work thus attests to the diversity of his subjects, spanning figures, family portraits and seaside scenes, while landscape continued to accompany his career.
He participated in the Salon des artistes français from 1893 to 1939, receiving an honourable mention there in 1900. In 1896, he was awarded a silver medal at the exhibitions of the Amis des arts de la Somme in Amiens and the Union artistique du Nord in Lille. Two other distinctions cited are the gold medals at the international exhibitions of Paris-Neuilly in 1900 and Seattle in 1909. Several works are held in public collections: Au bois du rêve (1899) at the Musée Antoine-Vivenel in Compiègne, Parfum du soir (1904) at the Musée des beaux-arts et d’archéologie in Châlons-en-Champagne, and Retour de pêche (île d’Yeu), dated 1925, at the Fonds municipal d’art contemporain de la Ville de Paris. Works listed also include La douleur d’Orphée and Mélancolie, two oil paintings on canvas from 1897, as well as La lettre du prisonnier, an oil painting on canvas dated 1942. His work has been presented in exhibitions, notably at the town hall of Paris’s 7th arrondissement in March 2000 and in Châtenay-Malabry in May 2007, on the centenary of Sully Prudhomme’s death. A catalogue raisonné of the artist was published by Jacques Noireau in 2013.
This profile brings together identity references for Léon Printemps and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.
1 references are documented at Dobiaschofsky. Each record links to its source; the amounts are not a general valuation of the artist’s work.
Works recorded at auction
Sources and references
SwissArtGallery documentary note based on the cited sources. Titles, media and qualifications are provided in the profile language; the original catalogue wording remains available in each record.
Documentation updated : 2026-10-19