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Lot Essay
In an era of growing industrialization and urbanization, the paintings of Jules Breton celebrated the rich heritage of rural France. The people and environs of his native village of Courrières, located in the province of Artois, served as inspiration for his paintings, and as muses for his sonnets.
Breton’s first official recognition as an artist came in 1855 for The Gleaners (National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, fig. 1). Further awards followed for The Blessing of the Wheat in Artois (Musée des Beaux Arts, Arras) in 1857 which earned him a silver medal at the Salon and was purchased by the French State. Throughout the ensuing decades, Breton received numerous awards and critical acclaim for his work, and his pictures found a ready market both in Europe and abroad. His paintings were particularly sought-after in America after the Civil War and he quickly became the most popular of French artists across the Atlantic. In 1877, Samuel G. W. Benjamin wrote that ‘popular and artistic opinion is more united in favor of the merits of Jules Breton than upon any other living painter’ (S. G. W. Benjamin, Contemporary Art in Europe, New York, 1877, p. 92).
American collectors felt an affinity for Breton’s work and particularly in his choice of subject matter. Breton’s field workers and peasants embodied a respect and reverence for nature and the fact that his subjects appeared to exist in a classless society was appealing to the democratic sensibilities of American collectors. In 1866, Breton broke the record for a price paid for a painting, and this established and distinguished record also appealed to Americans. Breton was also a well-respected poet and writer, and this long list of artistic and literary credentials added to his bona fides.
In an Atlantic Monthly article in 1873, the year Les amies was painted, William J. Hoppin, chairman of the Advisory Commission for American art of the 1867 Exposition universelle in Paris, found much of the genre painting in the exhibition was commonplace or frivolous, but he noted ‘a striking exception to this is found in the work of Millet and Jules Breton…It was curious at the Great Exposition how far removed Jules Breton seemed from Parisian wickedness, and how completely interpenetrated by the pure and wholesome atmosphere of rural life. His works gleamed out softly and beautifully in their honest tenderness, amongst all those opera dancers of Dubufe and Cabanel’ (‘A Glimpse of Contemporary Art in Europe’ Part 2, Atlantic Monthly, 22 September 1873, p. 259).
Samuel P. Avery, one of the founders of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, referred to the work of Breton as ‘fine healthy art which would benefit the public’ (Avery to William T. Watters, 11 February 1875, Letter Press Books, no. 530, Corcoran Gallery of Art archives, Washington, DC). Breton’s work found a strong base of collectors in New York because of Avery’s interest, but the artist also established a devoted clientèle in Philadelphia, Boston and the Midwest. The present painting graced the collection of Edwin Seymour Chapin, a wealthy New Yorker who was one of oldest members of the New York Stock Exchange. In the early years of his career as a stock trader, Chapin acted as a broker for Jay Gould, and perhaps it was through his contact with Gould that he developed his passion for art.
Breton’s extraordinary popularity in America in the mid-19th century was also predicated upon a sense that the paintings ‘seemed familiar, paralleling as they did some contemporary American art, and yet they were intriguingly fresh and novel for their cultural associations. Work after work embodied what seemed to be timeless, beneficent qualities; yet his powerfully nostalgic images acknowledged the profound changes taking place in the social, economic and moral structure of the world. In the face of upheaval, Breton’s art implied a reassurance that the inherent values would survive. Human decency and piety might take new forms but not disappear. The moral goodness of labor would be confirmed within the new industrial order. Individual and community spirit could co-exist’ (M. Fidell-Beaufort, ‘Jules Breton in America: Collecting in the 19th Century’ in H. Sturges et al, Jules Breton and the French Rural Tradition, Omaha, 1882-1983, p. 57).
The image of three attractive young peasant girls walking through the fields proved irresistible to Breton. This image is found as early as 1859 in The Recall of the Gleaners and The Reapers, and appears once more in the artist’s entry to the 1867 Salon, The Return from the Fields. In the present painting, the three barefoot young women walk down the road with the bell tower of Courrières in the background. Breton, in his own words, describes the essence of the characters of his paintings: ‘Here are those peasants who smiled at me during my childhood. They walk, heads slightly lowered, their steps slow... their minds lost in vague mysteries that disturb them not at all; they go, peacefully…over that road that has soaked up their sweat…they go imploring for their humble households only happiness without trouble, daily bread from their work, health and honor, they go, thanking Providence whose image they are piously following, in that instance shining in the rays of the sun’ (J. Breton, Un Peintre paysan, Paris, 1896, p. 104).
Les amies was painted at the height of Breton’s career. In 1872, he had received the Medal of Honor at the Salon. Les amies was painted the following year and was exhibited in the prestigious Exposition universelle in Vienna. It is significant that it was exhibited again at the Exposition universelle in Paris in 1878. Breton’s technique had developed and evolved and he, in his own way, took up the tendency toward naturalism which was stylistic in nature. Looser brushstrokes and more casual poses were a response to a broad trend in painting that favored impression and freedom of execution. The poses of his peasants are more complex, the three peasant girls are subtly intertwined through the placement of their hands. A superb draughtsman and colorist, Breton sets the mood and narrative of the painting with subtle gesture and muted color. The young girls are portrayed in simple clothes with bare feet, carrying the tools they use to harvest the wheat. Breton does not dwell on the hardship of their lives but instead brings forth an image of their innate nobility through their strength and beauty.
Annette Bourrut-Lacouture confirmed the authenticity of this work in 1998.
(fig. 1): Jules Breton, The Gleaners, 1854. National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin.
Breton’s first official recognition as an artist came in 1855 for The Gleaners (National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, fig. 1). Further awards followed for The Blessing of the Wheat in Artois (Musée des Beaux Arts, Arras) in 1857 which earned him a silver medal at the Salon and was purchased by the French State. Throughout the ensuing decades, Breton received numerous awards and critical acclaim for his work, and his pictures found a ready market both in Europe and abroad. His paintings were particularly sought-after in America after the Civil War and he quickly became the most popular of French artists across the Atlantic. In 1877, Samuel G. W. Benjamin wrote that ‘popular and artistic opinion is more united in favor of the merits of Jules Breton than upon any other living painter’ (S. G. W. Benjamin, Contemporary Art in Europe, New York, 1877, p. 92).
American collectors felt an affinity for Breton’s work and particularly in his choice of subject matter. Breton’s field workers and peasants embodied a respect and reverence for nature and the fact that his subjects appeared to exist in a classless society was appealing to the democratic sensibilities of American collectors. In 1866, Breton broke the record for a price paid for a painting, and this established and distinguished record also appealed to Americans. Breton was also a well-respected poet and writer, and this long list of artistic and literary credentials added to his bona fides.
In an Atlantic Monthly article in 1873, the year Les amies was painted, William J. Hoppin, chairman of the Advisory Commission for American art of the 1867 Exposition universelle in Paris, found much of the genre painting in the exhibition was commonplace or frivolous, but he noted ‘a striking exception to this is found in the work of Millet and Jules Breton…It was curious at the Great Exposition how far removed Jules Breton seemed from Parisian wickedness, and how completely interpenetrated by the pure and wholesome atmosphere of rural life. His works gleamed out softly and beautifully in their honest tenderness, amongst all those opera dancers of Dubufe and Cabanel’ (‘A Glimpse of Contemporary Art in Europe’ Part 2, Atlantic Monthly, 22 September 1873, p. 259).
Samuel P. Avery, one of the founders of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, referred to the work of Breton as ‘fine healthy art which would benefit the public’ (Avery to William T. Watters, 11 February 1875, Letter Press Books, no. 530, Corcoran Gallery of Art archives, Washington, DC). Breton’s work found a strong base of collectors in New York because of Avery’s interest, but the artist also established a devoted clientèle in Philadelphia, Boston and the Midwest. The present painting graced the collection of Edwin Seymour Chapin, a wealthy New Yorker who was one of oldest members of the New York Stock Exchange. In the early years of his career as a stock trader, Chapin acted as a broker for Jay Gould, and perhaps it was through his contact with Gould that he developed his passion for art.
Breton’s extraordinary popularity in America in the mid-19th century was also predicated upon a sense that the paintings ‘seemed familiar, paralleling as they did some contemporary American art, and yet they were intriguingly fresh and novel for their cultural associations. Work after work embodied what seemed to be timeless, beneficent qualities; yet his powerfully nostalgic images acknowledged the profound changes taking place in the social, economic and moral structure of the world. In the face of upheaval, Breton’s art implied a reassurance that the inherent values would survive. Human decency and piety might take new forms but not disappear. The moral goodness of labor would be confirmed within the new industrial order. Individual and community spirit could co-exist’ (M. Fidell-Beaufort, ‘Jules Breton in America: Collecting in the 19th Century’ in H. Sturges et al, Jules Breton and the French Rural Tradition, Omaha, 1882-1983, p. 57).
The image of three attractive young peasant girls walking through the fields proved irresistible to Breton. This image is found as early as 1859 in The Recall of the Gleaners and The Reapers, and appears once more in the artist’s entry to the 1867 Salon, The Return from the Fields. In the present painting, the three barefoot young women walk down the road with the bell tower of Courrières in the background. Breton, in his own words, describes the essence of the characters of his paintings: ‘Here are those peasants who smiled at me during my childhood. They walk, heads slightly lowered, their steps slow... their minds lost in vague mysteries that disturb them not at all; they go, peacefully…over that road that has soaked up their sweat…they go imploring for their humble households only happiness without trouble, daily bread from their work, health and honor, they go, thanking Providence whose image they are piously following, in that instance shining in the rays of the sun’ (J. Breton, Un Peintre paysan, Paris, 1896, p. 104).
Les amies was painted at the height of Breton’s career. In 1872, he had received the Medal of Honor at the Salon. Les amies was painted the following year and was exhibited in the prestigious Exposition universelle in Vienna. It is significant that it was exhibited again at the Exposition universelle in Paris in 1878. Breton’s technique had developed and evolved and he, in his own way, took up the tendency toward naturalism which was stylistic in nature. Looser brushstrokes and more casual poses were a response to a broad trend in painting that favored impression and freedom of execution. The poses of his peasants are more complex, the three peasant girls are subtly intertwined through the placement of their hands. A superb draughtsman and colorist, Breton sets the mood and narrative of the painting with subtle gesture and muted color. The young girls are portrayed in simple clothes with bare feet, carrying the tools they use to harvest the wheat. Breton does not dwell on the hardship of their lives but instead brings forth an image of their innate nobility through their strength and beauty.
Annette Bourrut-Lacouture confirmed the authenticity of this work in 1998.
(fig. 1): Jules Breton, The Gleaners, 1854. National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin.