French countryside landscape, most likely from the Savoie region, depicting a tree-lined path alongside a small river. In the background, the silhouette of a church and a few houses appear among the trees. Large format oil on canvas painting, signed and dated 1927.
Louis François Lachat was a French painter born February 24, 1873 in Paris. He studied with landscape artists Léon Broquet (1869-1935) and Emile Octave Denis Victor Guillonnet (1872-1967). In 1906, he exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants then, from 1912, at the Salon des Artistes Français, being especially known for his landscapes around Paris and in particular the valleys and mountains of Savoy. He was mobilized during the First World War as an infantry sergeant, where he was wounded. In 1919, he participated in the exhibition work in favour of the war, organized by the Society of French Artists and the National Society of Fine Arts. In 1933, he was appointed director-curator of the Annecy Museum (Haute-Savoie) where he modernized and updated the museum's methods and collections. After the outbreak of World War II in 1941, he was removed from office by the authorities of the Vichy regime for his affiliation to Freemasonry. He moved to his family residence in Châtillon-sous-Bagneux, near Paris, where he died in 1948.
Sources: Benezit; Musée d'Annecy; Archives de France.
Artist: Louis Lachat (1873-1948)
Signed and dated in lower right corner.
Medium: Oil on canvas.
Condition: Very good condition.
Dimensions: 81 x 101 cm. / 32 x 39 ¾ in.
Frame: 83 x 103 cm. / 32 ¾ x 40 ½ in. Gilded wood. Very good condition.
Origin: France.
