The Grand Boulevards By Luigi Loir, Oil Painting

Luigi Loir (1845-1916): The Grand Boulevards, circa 1888, oil on canvas, 46,5 x 34,5 cm, Private Collection

Luigi Aloys-François-Joseph Loir, dit Luigi Loir was born in 1845 in Goritz, Austria, of French parents. At the age of eight, he was studying at the l’Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Parma before moving to Paris in 1863.
Loir served with distinction at the Battle of Bourget 1870, in the Franco Prussian War. Following the war he concentrated exclusively on painting views of Paris.
His paintings record the newly reconstructed streets and boulevards of Baron Haussmann at all hours of the day and in all weather, sunlit parks and rain sodden streets by night with café lights glowing. These displayed Loir’s exceptional powers of observation and craftsmanship and it is with these that he ultimately made his reputation.