A Legacy of Artistry

Jesse Leach France was born on October 8, 1862, in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of William Cook France and Isabelle Finlay France. The family moved south to Lexington, Kentucky where they purchased the famous Highland Stock Farm and bred some well known race horses of that time from the sire, Red Wilkes. At an early age while Jesse was in school in St. Louis, he became interested in painting marine scenes. In 1883, he went to New York City to take lessons at the National Academy of Design. He studied under American masters, including William H. Chase, T.W. Dewing, and J.Alden Weir. From the beginning, Jesse’s main interest was sea and landscapes. It was his father who suggested that he might also add people and animals to his paintings.

In 1885 Jesse made his first trip to Europe for further study under European artists. He made great strides in Paris where he studied for six years at the Julienne Academy of Art. He had the opportunity of living in the Latin Quarter studying along side some of the greatest artists of the period, including LeFevre, Boulanger, Benjamin Constant, and Carolus Duran. His progress seemed to him to be magical as he studied with such contemporaries as Frederick MacMonnies, George Gray Barnard, Lorado Taft, Eric Pape, and others. He lived in a studio on Rue Boissonade, a little street near the Monparnasse Cemetery where Jesse paid 1700 francs for his apartment, which contained a studio, kitchen, and bedroom. He was one of about 40 American and English students who used to dine at the Café Des Arts, where a good meal, including a bottle of wine, only cost 25 cents, American.

On February 25, 1887, Jesse wrote to his step mother, Ellen, in Kentucky to tell her about his preparing a second painting for display “on the Line”. He stated that “it will be better than the other one, according to the opinion of all the boys”. A smaller version of this painting, dated 1888, hangs in the family collection. It shows the landing of the herring boats, as depicted in painting Image 725. Jesse exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1887, 1888, 1889, and 1890.