拍品專文
Born in Artois, Jules Breton found lifelong inspiration for his paintings in the French countryside. His patrons numbered both royalty and the newly wealthy bourgeois. His honors during his lifetime included the prestigious Légion d'honneur. His interest in Brittany was awakened in 1856 by the first of several trips he made there with his wife, Elodie. He returned to the region with his wife and daughter, Virginie, for the summer months of 1865-1875. During his summer tenure, he painted several compositions based on the people and environs of Brittany and used the lyrical images he created as inspiration for his 1875 publication of poetry entitled Les Champs et la Mer. One of his favorite subjects appears to have been the coastline of the Bay of Douarnenez, situated between the villages of Treboul and Douarnenez: Village of Saint-Jean Near Treboul; Douarnenez Bay (1865), The Bay of Douarnenez; View of Poulmarch (1870); Brittany Girl (1872), and his 1874 Salon entry The Cliff all illustrate the region.
Breton began working on La Femme a L'Ombrelle; Baie de Douarnenez in the summer of 1870. It was conceived as a composition depicting Elodie seated in a pine grove overlooking the Bay of Douarnenez across from the hill of Menez Hom. In a letter to his brother Louis, dated Douarnenez, July 11th, he described the painting as "Elodie en robe jaune à l'ombre de son parasol tenant sur ses genoux un 'tour de lac rouge'". A small, preliminary oil sketch of this subject is now in the collection of the Musée du Petit Palais, Paris, and there is a larger drawing, squared for transfer, now in the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. John Dobkin, New York. Though the artist evidently worked on the painting in his Paris studio during the winter months, it is most likely that he was true to the words he had written to his brother ("J'irai la terminer sur place") and returned to finish it in the summer of 1871.
The resulting masterpiece, La femme à l'Ombrelle; Baie de Douarnenez is a splendid example of Breton's romantic vision of the harmony of mankind and nature. Painted in the broad vigorous strokes typical of his 1870's pictures, Breton successfully evokes a contemplative mood through the subtle effects of light. What at first glance may appear to be a casual depiction of a moment captured in time, reveals itself to be a carefully constructed composition dependent on the delicate balance of solid forms and luminous color.
This painting will be included in the forthcoming Breton catalogue raisonné being prepared by Annette Bourrut Lacouture.
Breton began working on La Femme a L'Ombrelle; Baie de Douarnenez in the summer of 1870. It was conceived as a composition depicting Elodie seated in a pine grove overlooking the Bay of Douarnenez across from the hill of Menez Hom. In a letter to his brother Louis, dated Douarnenez, July 11th, he described the painting as "Elodie en robe jaune à l'ombre de son parasol tenant sur ses genoux un 'tour de lac rouge'". A small, preliminary oil sketch of this subject is now in the collection of the Musée du Petit Palais, Paris, and there is a larger drawing, squared for transfer, now in the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. John Dobkin, New York. Though the artist evidently worked on the painting in his Paris studio during the winter months, it is most likely that he was true to the words he had written to his brother ("J'irai la terminer sur place") and returned to finish it in the summer of 1871.
The resulting masterpiece, La femme à l'Ombrelle; Baie de Douarnenez is a splendid example of Breton's romantic vision of the harmony of mankind and nature. Painted in the broad vigorous strokes typical of his 1870's pictures, Breton successfully evokes a contemplative mood through the subtle effects of light. What at first glance may appear to be a casual depiction of a moment captured in time, reveals itself to be a carefully constructed composition dependent on the delicate balance of solid forms and luminous color.
This painting will be included in the forthcoming Breton catalogue raisonné being prepared by Annette Bourrut Lacouture.