LUCIEN LANTIER (1879-1960) Rural scene in a Bessarabian Village

signed ‘Lucien Lantier’ (lower right) oil on canvas 48 x 65 cm Lucien LANTIER, a genre painter, was born of French parents in ODESSA, Ukraine, in the south-east of Bessarabia, actual Moldavia. He left his parents in 1889 to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Very gifted in drawing, he worked between Paris and Odessa, then travelled to Moscow and Petrograd (Saint Petersburg) where he organized exhibitions. One of his paintings was very much noticed by Prince Felix Youssoupof, who introduced him to the court of Tsar Nicolas II where he did many portraits. During the First World War, Lantier returned to France to fight for the French army. After the war, he painted his youth in Bessarabia and Russia.