Not many stolen paintings are returned. We can count ourselves lucky that Count Lepic and His Daughters was only a temporary casualty.

In 2008, three men in ski masks raided the E.G. Burhle Foundation. They took with them four paintings: a Van Gogh, a Monet, a Cezanne, and Degas’ portrait of Ludovic Lepic with his daughters. The same year, the other paintings were found and seized from a van in a parking lot. Talk about art burglary fails. This one, though, was returned five years later.

Ludovic Lepic was a French aristocrat who did a little bit of everything, including art and archaeology. It was the kind of lifestyle that was trending among high-born men of the time. They would retain their titles (Lepic was a Viscount) and pursue a life of serious hobbies (etching). Not so far away, Edgar Degas was living a similarly charmed life. Degas and Ludovic went to the same schools and eventually hung out with the same people. They would end up bumping into each other at operas or theatres and also collaborated on artistic pursuits. Ludovic features in as many as 11 of Degas’ paintings. Another painting of Lepic and his girls crossing the Place de la Concorde was completed in 1876.

Lepic married Josephine Barral in 1865. Their daughters would have been about 3 years old when Degas painted them. Eylau was the older one, and Jeanine was the younger. Lepic held Jeanine up with his left arm, as she was still enjoying baby status. The girls seem to adore their father. They don’t know that he’s going to leave their mum and shack up with a ballerina in a few years.