“Rogation Day.
Blessing Of The Wheat In Artois”.
Date: 1857.
Artist: Jules Breton (1827 – 1906).
Collection: Musée d'Orsay.
(Wikimedia Commons)
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unless stated otherwise.
Jules Adolphe Aimé Louis Breton (1827 - 1906) was a 19th-Century French naturalist painter.
His paintings are heavily influenced by the French countryside. His absorption of traditional methods of painting helped make him one of the primary transmitters of the beauty and idyllic vision of rural existence.
Breton was born on 1 May 1827 in Courrières, a small Pas-de-Calais village. His father, Marie-Louis Breton, supervised land for a wealthy landowner. His mother died when Jules was four and he was brought up by his father.
Breton was born on 1 May 1827 in Courrières, a small Pas-de-Calais village. His father, Marie-Louis Breton, supervised land for a wealthy landowner. His mother died when Jules was four and he was brought up by his father.
English:
A Marian Procession.
“Pardon at Kergoat, Brittany, France”.
French: “Le Pardon de Kergoat”.
Artist: Jules Breton (1827–1906).
Date: 1891.
Collection: Musée des Beaux-Arts de Quimper.
Source/Photographer:
This File is licensed under the
Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Other family members who lived in the same house were his maternal grandmother, his younger brother, Émile, and his uncle Boniface Breton.
A respect for tradition, a love of the land, and for his native region, remained central to his art throughout his life and provided the artist with many scenes for his Salon compositions.
His first artistic training was not far from Courrières at the College St. Bertin near Saint-Omer.
His first artistic training was not far from Courrières at the College St. Bertin near Saint-Omer.
He met the painter Félix De Vigne in 1842, who, impressed by his youthful talent, persuaded his family to let him study art.
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Jules Breton.
Date: 1890.
Source:
“The Life Of An Artist:
An Autobiography. By: Jules Breton.
1890”.
Author: Jules Breton (1827–1906).
(Wikimedia Commons)
Breton left for Ghent in 1843 where he continued to study art at the Academy of Fine Arts with de Vigne and the painter Hendrik Van der Haert.
In 1846, Breton moved to Antwerp where he took lessons with Egide Charles Gustave Wappers and spent some time copying the works of Flemish masters.
In 1847, he left for Paris where he hoped to perfect his artistic training at the École des Beaux-Arts.
In Paris, he studied in the atelier of the Michel Martin Drolling. He met and became friends with several of the Realist painters, including François Bonvin and Gustave Brion, and his early entries at the Paris Salon reflected their influence.
In Paris, he studied in the atelier of the Michel Martin Drolling. He met and became friends with several of the Realist painters, including François Bonvin and Gustave Brion, and his early entries at the Paris Salon reflected their influence.
First-Holy Communicants.
Artist:
Jules Breton (1827 – 1906).
Date: 1884.
Collection: Private Collection.
Source/Photographer: Art Renewal Center.
(Wikimedia Commons)
His first efforts were in historical subjects: Saint Piat preaching in Gaul, then, under the influence of the Revolution of 1848, he painted “Misery and Despair” and “Hunger”.[1]
Later, Breton moved to Belgium, where he met his future wife, Elodie. Elodie was the daughter of his early teacher Félix de Vigne.
In 1852, Breton returned to France. But he had discovered that he was not born to be a historical painter, and he returned to the memories of nature and of the countryside which were impressed on him in early youth.[1]
In 1853, he exhibited “Return of the Reapers”, the first of numerous rural peasant scenes influenced by the works of the Swiss painter Louis Léopold Robert.
English:
“Young Girls Going To A Procession”.
French:
“Jeunes filles se rendant à la procession”.
Artist:
Jules Breton (1827 – 1906).
Date: 1890.
Collection: Munson.
Source/Photographer: Art Renewal Center.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Breton’s interest in peasant imagery was well established from then on and what he is best known for today.
In 1854, he returned to the village of Courrières, where he settled. He began “The Gleaners”, a work inspired by seasonal field labour and the plight of the less fortunate, who were left to gather what remained in the field after the harvest.
“The Gleaners” received a Third-Class Medal, which launched Breton’s career. He received commissions from the State and many of his works were purchased by the French Art Administration and sent to provincial museums. His 1857 painting “Blessing of the Wheat in Artois” was exhibited at the Salon the same year and won a Second-Class Medal.
Breton married Elodie de Vigne in 1858.
Breton married Elodie de Vigne in 1858.
In 1889, Breton was made Commander of the Legion of Honor, and, in 1899, a foreign member of the Royal Academy of London.
