Jules Adolphe Aimé Louis Breton (French, 1827-1906) Jeune pêcheuse bretonne, Douarnenez, 1878 Oil on canvas laid on bo...

Jules Adolphe Aimé Louis Breton (French, 1827-1906) Jeune pêcheuse bretonne, Douarnenez, 1878 Oil on canvas laid on board 22-1/8 x 14-1/2 inches (56.2 x 36.8 cm) Signed and dated lower right: Jules Breton 1878 PROVENANCE: Henry Reinhardt, New York, by descent, 1918; Paul Watkins, Winona, Minnesota, acquired from the above; Christie's, New York, October 27, 2004, lot 130; Christopher-Clark Fine Art, San Francisco, California; Private collection, Las Vegas, Nevada, acquired from the above. Upon the occasion of the painting's sale in 2004, Christie's noted that "this work has been authenticated by Annette Bourrut-Lacouture and will be included in her forthcoming catalogue raisonné, Jules Breton, Painter of Peasant Life." During the late nineteenth century, an era marked by rapid industrialization and urbanization, Jules Breton's bucolic subjects were widely admired for their portrayal of rural life in France. The artist's rustic pastoral scenes depicted a simpler time, offered a reassuring sense of tradition and continuity, and championed the poor and laboring peasant class, for whom the artist had a deep affinity and admiration. Breton's first official artistic recognition came in 1855 for The Gleaners (National Gallery of Ireland), followed soon afterwards with a silver medal at the 1857 Salon for The Blessing of the Wheat in Artois (Musée des Beaux Arts, Arras), which was purchased by the French State. Throughout the ensuing decades, Breton's success continued unabated with awards, critical accolades, and enthusiastic patronage both in Europe and abroad. The artist's works were particularly sought-after in America following the Civil War, leading Breton to quickly become the most popular French artist 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" (Contemporary Art in Europe, New York, 1877, p. 92). For Breton and his contemporaries, the agricultural region of Brittany provided the ideal backdrop for scenes of peasant life, as it does in the present work. The province became a popular destination for artists and tourists alike, when the first railway line from Paris was completed in the 1860s, because the traditional way of life there remained relatively unchanged and thus exceedingly picturesque. Age-old methods of farming and fishing were still in use, and Breton peasants, particularly the women, continued to dress in their distinctive traditional attire with bonnets, aprons, and wooden shoes. Douarnenez, a commune in western Brittany, was the location of a centuries-old fishing port, which provided the artist's inspiration for the present work. Painted in 1878 at the height of the artist's career, Jeune pêcheuse bretonne, Douarnenez depicts a young fisherwoman at end of her work day seated upon the rocky shore. Captured in a moment of reverie, the girl rests her chin on the end of her fishing pole, the fading warm late afternoon sun illuminating one side of her face. Since she is backlit by a sky nearing dusk, which glows near the horizon, the young Breton fisher girl is presented in near-silhouette, a very difficult visual effect to paint. By this period Breton's technique was marked by looser brushstrokes and more casual poses of his sitters, qualities that may have derived from the influence of the Impressionists, whose contemporaneous artistic innovations favored freedom of execution over a more static academic approach. A superb draughtsman and colorist, Breton utilized subtle gesture and muted color to create a tranquil mood in this poetic composition. As is the case with most of his peasant scenes, Breton does not dwell on the hardship of girl's labor in this work, opting instead to evoke a more poetic image of youthful wistfulness. HID12701242017