Hippolyte LALAISSE
(Nancy, 1812 – Paris, 1884)
Stallion in the stable
Oil on canvas
Signed lower left
68 x 95 cm
Son of Augustin DELALAISSE, surveyor and Thérèse Barbe Louise PERREZ, he arrived in Paris in the 1830s where he became a student of Nicolas CHARLET, whom he took over as professor of drawing at the École Polytechnique from 1839 to 1877. It was in gratitude for this good and loyal service that he was made a knight of the Legion of Honor in 1875.
Hippolyte LALAISSE participated in the Paris Salon between 1845 and 1874. Renowned for his animal paintings, particularly of horses, sent to official salons, the press of the time dedicated several flattering comments to him, including the following examples:
- "M. Lalaisse's horses are of an excellent and true painting" by A. de La Fizelière in Salon of 1850-1851,
- "The oriental horse, by M. Lalaisse, is perfectly studied. The gait, the coat, the whole, everything seems very good to us in this painting." in Journal des beaux-arts of July 15, 1849, p.50,
- "He made the horse as well as Carle Vernet - which is saying something. All his studies are very beautiful. The drawing is vigorous, the color solid, the musculature excellent." in L'Hôtel Drouot et la curiosité en 1883-1884, p. 339
- "Hippolyte Lalaisse was more than just an excellent draftsman. Gifted with a flexible and varied talent, possessing remarkable qualities of observation that Géricault, his first master, had immediately distinguished, he had first been an engraver, then an etcher, and he was soon to distinguish himself in turn as a landscape painter, animal painter, genre painter, and, above all, as a painter of military subjects and skilled watercolourist." in La Revue de l'art ancien et moderne by Émile Dacier, p. 74.
Naturally shy, the artist lived in seclusion and, thanks to his talent, had built up a special clientele. When they bought a painting from him, Lalaisse would paint their horses and carriages into the bargain.
He was also a prolific lithographer, especially in the depiction of Breton regional costumes and uniforms.
Museums : Bagnères-de-Bigorre, Chaumont, Lons-le-Saunier, Strasbourg…