Henri Michel-Lévy (July 11, 1844 in Passy, France - September 17, 1914 in Paris), was a French impressionist painter.^[1]

Lévy was the third of the four sons of Michel Lévy and Thérèse Emerique. The family lived in Paris but originated in the Lorraine province in the north-east of France. The father of Henri was a tradesman.

Lévy was a pupil of Félix Barrias (1822-1907) and of Antoine Vollon (1833-1900).^[2] Henri Lévy changed his name to Henri « Michel-Lévy » by adding his father's first name to its surname. This was allegedly done to avoid confusion with other homonyms at that time.^[3]

Lévy was an artist but also an art collector as can be seen from the works of Watteau, Boucher and Fragonard that were included in his posthumous sale.^[4]

His grave is located in the Montmartre Cemetery.^[5]

Henri Michel-Lévy met regularly with French impressionists, in particular Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet and Eugène Boudin from whom he got most probably his modern taste. He was a portraitist and often painted subjects going about their usual business,^[6] as often found as a common thread in Impressionist painting. Lévy is known for Painting of Eugène Boudin (1880) as the famous painter is himself sketching cows in the fields near Honfleur.^[7] His subjects are not professionals but rather found in his social circle, like the wife of his friend, Edgar Degas or his own family.

From 1868 to 1886, Henri Michel-Lévy exhibited at the Salon in Paris, where he was awarded "honorable" mention in 1880 and a third-class medal in 1881. He won a bronze medal at the Exposition Universelle of 1889.^[2] He participated in the Salon between 1868 and 1914.^[8]

In 1878, he was represented by Edgar Degas in his atelier (see insert picture)^[2] on a painting presented at the fourth Impressionist exhibition in 1879. The painting to the right of Michel-Lévy was identified by Theodore Reff as The Regattas, a painting from Michel-Lévy that was photographically documented but whose whereabouts remain unknown.^[9] Michel-Lévy and Degas exchanged portraits of each other on that occasion. But soon after Michel-Lévy sells Degas' painting, which irritates Degas who disdainfully comments: "You have done a despicable thing; you knew very well that I couldn't sell your portrait".^[10]

In 1885, he painted the portrait of Auguste Guerbois,^[11] the owner of Café Guerbois (nearby Place de Clichy) not too far from Montmartre where painters used to meet. Art historian Ronald Pickvance suggested that Michel-Lévy may have been the painter of the portrait, Madame Lévy, which is usually believed to have been painted by Édouard Manet.^[12]

As a landscape painter, Henri Michel-Lévy focused on the peasant life away from the romantic views of the time. But a large portion of his exterior paintings dealt with the middle-class life of the 19th century. An example of that is a painting at the beach (Le Pouligen, la plage) that can be found at Museum Baron Martin, Gray, France in a style that is reminiscent of Boudin's work. Similarly, the painting found as background in Degas's portray of Michel-Lévy revisiting the theme of Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe.

The following paintings are exposed in museums across France:

• Le Peintre Eugène Boudin peignant des animaux dans la prairie de Deauville (1880) oil on canvas, 22 x 27 cm, Museum of modern art André Malraux - MuMa, Le Havre, France
• Auguste Guerbois (1885) oil on canvas, 46 x 38 cm, Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France
• La Nourrice oil on canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Orléans, France
• Ville balnéaire normande (about 1900) oil on canvas, 54.5 x 65 cm, Montebello Villa, Trouville, France
• Le Pouligen, la plage oil on canvas, Baron Martin Museum, Gray, France^[13]
• Bateaux sur la grève, Louvre Museum.^[14]

• Auguste Guerbois by Henri Michel-Lévy
• La Nourrice (the wet nurse)