Henri Lucien Doucet

Who was Henri Lucien Doucet?

Henri Lucien Doucet was a French figure and portrait painter, born in Paris, where he studied under Lefebvre and Boulanger, and in 1880 won the Prix de Rome. His pictures are usually piquant, sparkling representations of modern life, eminently Parisian in style, but the audacious realism of his earlier work is not maintained in his later, which is somewhat characterless. His portraits in pastel are also notable.

His most widely known picture is Après le bal. Other excellent examples are the portraits of Celestine Galli-Marie as Carmen, La princesse Mathilde Laetitia Wilhelmine Bonaparte and My Parents, A Spanish Woman, and Nude Figure. He was awarded a first-class medal for pastel in 1889 and the Legion of Honour in 1891.

His painting A Skating Party, of 1893, was exhibited at the Chicago World Fair or the World's Columbian Exposition, which was held from May to October 1893 in Chicago in honour of the 400th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of the New World. Goupil made a limited edition first impression photogravure of the painting.