John Leslie Breck
Illustration — John Leslie Breck, by James Carroll Beckwith. During his short life he painted a number of notable works, and is credited with introducing Impressionism to the United States with a show in Boston in 1890. He died in 1899, reported as death by asphyxiation from lighting gas poisoning, and is interred in Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston.
John Leslie Breck
File URL IIIF manifest Catalog record · Public domain
- Born
- 1860 · at sea.
- Died
- 1899 · Boston.
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- painter
- Fields
- landscape
- Education
- St. Mark's School · Académie Julian
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Illustration — John Leslie Breck, by James Carroll Beckwith. During his short life he painted a number of notable works, and is credited with introducing Impressionism to the United States with a show in Boston in 1890. He died in 1899, reported as death by asphyxiation from lighting gas poisoning, and is interred in Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston.
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wikidata · Q15247081 · wikipedia · John Leslie Breck
In this article
Life and work
Life and work
His works remain in a number of American museums and private collections.
John Leslie Breck studied at St. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are landscape. Work by John Leslie Breck is recorded in the collections of Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Smithsonian American Art Museum and Georgia Museum of Art.
Breck was born off Hong Kong at sea in 1860, the son of a US naval officer. Returning to the United States, he grew up in Newton, Massachusetts, where he attended the Governor’s Academy for a year before matriculating from St. Mark's School in 1877. Following his graduation, the young artist studied painting at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. Breck returned to Boston in 1882 and spent the next part of his career painting in New England. In 1886, John Leslie Breck returned to Europe to study in Paris at the Académie Julian. While at school, Breck established many connections that would impact his artistic style. He studied under Gustave Boulanger and Jules-Joseph Lefebvre, and met some fellow American artists studying abroad. In 1887 Breck, along with fellow American artists Willard Metcalf and Theodore Robinson, traveled to Giverny, France, home of the impressionist master Claude Monet, where he was befriended by Claude Monet. Breck introduced Impressionism to the United States in 1890. Breck by then had already absorbed both the formal aspects of Dutch Mastery. At Giverny he learned and adopted Monet's Impressionist style and techniques. Despite some success exhibiting in the Salon in 1888 and 1889, Breck left Paris after breaking up with Monet’s stepdaughter, Blanche Hoschédé-Monet.
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at sea.
Birth place
Boston.
Death place
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article John Leslie Breck, revision 1364517351 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Legacy
Upon his return to Boston in 1890 he exhibited at the St. Botolph Club in 1890. At that show, and with his remaining paintings of the period, one can note that the atmospheric perspective and vibrant colors of his landscapes of Massachusetts, Giverny, and Venice demonstrate not only his great talent as a landscape artist but his integration into the great artistic movement of Impressionism. He died in 1899. There is a notable 1891 portrait of Breck in France by his friend James Carroll Beckwith on permanent exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, in Washington, D.C. The John Leslie Breck fund, a legacy of the artist's estate, at St. Mark's School continues to support the fine arts there.
Part of a collection containing historical records created by, or relating to, world-renowned individuals and historical personages, as well as individuals from the United States, Ohio, or Cleveland. It includes correspondence, documents, signatures, and notes.
File URL IIIF manifest Catalog record
Part of a collection containing historical records created by, or relating to, world-renowned individuals and historical personages, as well as individuals from the United States, Ohio, or Cleveland. It includes correspondence, documents, signatures, and notes.
File URL IIIF manifest Catalog record
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “John Leslie Breck”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q15247081: John Leslie Breck
General reference · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Kathleen Adler: Americans in Paris, 1860–1900, S. 228.
- 2.Teilweise findet sich abweichend die Angabe Hong Kong, beispielsweise beim Eintrag im Allgemeinen Künstlerlexikon–Online.
- 3.Jonathan Stuhlman: John Leslie Breck – American impressionist, S. 28.
- 4.Informationen zur Schulzeit auf der Website der Governor’s Academy.
- 5.Jonathan Stuhlman: John Leslie Breck – American impressionist, S. 29.
- 6.Jonathan Stuhlman: John Leslie Breck – American impressionist, S. 30.
- 7.Jonathan Stuhlman: John Leslie Breck – American impressionist, S. 187.
- 8.Catrin Ritter: Breck, John Leslie. In Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon–Online, Bd. 14, S. 52.
- 9.Jonathan Stuhlman: John Leslie Breck – American impressionist, S. 31.
- 10.Jonathan Stuhlman: John Leslie Breck – American impressionist, S. 36.
- 11.Jonathan Stuhlman: John Leslie Breck – American impressionist, S. 38.
- 12.Jonathan Stuhlman: John Leslie Breck – American impressionist, S. 32.
- 13.Jonathan Stuhlman: John Leslie Breck – American impressionist, S. 34.
- 14.Jonathan Stuhlman: John Leslie Breck – American impressionist, S. 39.
- 15.Jonathan Stuhlman: John Leslie Breck – American impressionist, S. 44.
- 16.Jonathan Stuhlman: John Leslie Breck – American impressionist, S. 188.
- 17.Jonathan Stuhlman: John Leslie Breck – American impressionist, S. 45.
- 18.Jonathan Stuhlman: John Leslie Breck – American impressionist, S. 54.
- 19.William H. Gerdts: Amerikanischer Impressionismus. Meisterwerke aus öffentlichen und privaten Sammlungen der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika., S. 48.
- 20.Jonathan Stuhlman: John Leslie Breck – American impressionist, S. 58.
- 21.Jonathan Stuhlman: John Leslie Breck – American impressionist, S. 62.
- 22.Jonathan Stuhlman: John Leslie Breck – American impressionist, S. 65.
- 23.Jonathan Stuhlman: John Leslie Breck – American impressionist, S. 67.
- 24.Jonathan Stuhlman: John Leslie Breck – American impressionist, S. 189.
- 25.Biografie von John Leslie Breck auf der Website der New England Historical Society
- 26.Jonathan Stuhlman: John Leslie Breck – American impressionist, S. 99.
- 27.Werke von John Leslie Breck auf der Website der Terra Foundation for American Art
- 28.Gemälde Wooded Stream von John Leslie Breck auf der Website der Harvard Art Museums
- 29.Gemälde Giverny Winter von John Leslie Breck auf der Website des Carnegie Museum of Art
- 30.Werke von John Leslie Breck auf der Website des Musée des impressionnismes Giverny
- 31.Gemälde In the Valley of the Seine von John Leslie Breck auf der Website des Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
- 32.Gemälde Evening in Giverny von John Leslie Breck auf der Website des Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg
- 33.Gemälde Misty Day, Venice von John Leslie Breck auf der Website des Georgia Museum of Art
- 34.Gemälde M. Baudy Behind his Desk at the Hotel Baudy von John Leslie Breck auf der Website des Smithsonian American Art Museum
- 35.Gemälde Suzanne Hoschedé-Monet Sewing von John Leslie Breck auf der Website des Mint Museums
References
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General reference
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 19 August 2026.
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