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Lot Essay
Near the beginning of 1857, Breton traveled to Bourron-Marlotte in order to explore and work in the Fontainebleau forest. He spent days sketching in the dark, damp forest and each day he was delighted to return to the life-giving sunlight. This experience of emerging into the sunlight of the fields inspired him to start work on The Recall of the Gleaners, Artois now in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris (fig. 1). The artist described this experience in almost poetic terms: 'The sun had just disappeared behind a copse of willows and poplars on the edge of a wheatfield. Its presence could still be felt. And then a girl went by, tall and upright, in a gloriously cool tone in the tawny evening air, her silhouette bathed in light. In my imagination I was back with my group of gleaners' (J. Breton, Un peintre paysan, 1896, pp. 107-109).
Breton remains true to nature in all aspects of his painting. These girls are no hot-house beauties. They are the epitome of the rugged peasant women who spent the days in the field in back-breaking labor. The girl to the far right, for which there is a sketch (fig. 2) is almost primitive in her features, and the working sketch at the Houston Museum (fig. 3) for the girl to the left of central figure group bears some relation in color and character to Vincent van Gogh's peasant women. However, the central figure, as in many of Breton's multi-figural compositions, is slightly emphasized, with more regular features and a movement which betrays the beginning of a more Classical feel as well as a genuine sense of nature and of the light of the early evening.
According to Annette Bourrut-Lacouture, the present work is definitely by Breton and is a recognized precursor to the Salon version of 1859. While similar in size, scale and subject to the Salon work, the present painting should be considered more of an ébauche rather than simply a preparatory work. In comparing the two, the most significant difference is the presence of a group of girls running into the picture on the right. This difference also accounts for the shorter width of the present work when compared to the Salon painting, while of the height of the two is almost identical. Bourrut-Lacouture has postulated that the variation in measurement could be due to a possible damage that occurred to the canvas, causing the artist to abandon the canvas. Another theory is that Breton may have not yet fully conceptualized the final scale of the Salon work and the present painting represents a calmer, quieter scene of women returning home at evening after a long day at work in the fields. Regardless, the theme of The Return of the Gleaners is one that Breton worked on for a very long time, having first depicted a single field worker and over time expanding his compositions to more dynamic groupings of figures.
Unique to the present work is the sense and quality of the light. The Salon version depicts the moment of dusk when the fading rays of sunlight are still touching on the fields and figures. In the present painting it appears to be just slightly later in the evening, at the point just after sunset when night actually rises, enveloping the gleaners and the landscape in a darker atmosphere that hints at the rest from their labors that is to come.
Most importantly, as Bourrut-Lacouture notes, this work is a very important composition unto itself. In her forthcoming catalogue raisonné on the artist, she will expand on the fascinating evolution of The Return of the Gleaners, Artois, for which this work is an important and integral part.
We would like to thank Annette Bourrut-Lacouture for confirming the authenticity of this work and for providing information for this catalogue note. This painting will be included in her forthcoming Jules Breton catalogue raisonné.
(fig. 1) Jules Adolphe Breton, The Return of the Gleaners, Musée d'Orsay, Paris, Erich Lessing Art Resource, NY.
(fig. 2) Jules Adolphe Breton, Study for the figure on the right of the central motif in 'The Recall of the Gleaners', Private collection.
(fig. 3) Jules Adolphe Breton, Study for the figure on the left of the central motif for 'The Recall of the Gleaners', The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. H. B. Eisenstadt.
Breton remains true to nature in all aspects of his painting. These girls are no hot-house beauties. They are the epitome of the rugged peasant women who spent the days in the field in back-breaking labor. The girl to the far right, for which there is a sketch (fig. 2) is almost primitive in her features, and the working sketch at the Houston Museum (fig. 3) for the girl to the left of central figure group bears some relation in color and character to Vincent van Gogh's peasant women. However, the central figure, as in many of Breton's multi-figural compositions, is slightly emphasized, with more regular features and a movement which betrays the beginning of a more Classical feel as well as a genuine sense of nature and of the light of the early evening.
According to Annette Bourrut-Lacouture, the present work is definitely by Breton and is a recognized precursor to the Salon version of 1859. While similar in size, scale and subject to the Salon work, the present painting should be considered more of an ébauche rather than simply a preparatory work. In comparing the two, the most significant difference is the presence of a group of girls running into the picture on the right. This difference also accounts for the shorter width of the present work when compared to the Salon painting, while of the height of the two is almost identical. Bourrut-Lacouture has postulated that the variation in measurement could be due to a possible damage that occurred to the canvas, causing the artist to abandon the canvas. Another theory is that Breton may have not yet fully conceptualized the final scale of the Salon work and the present painting represents a calmer, quieter scene of women returning home at evening after a long day at work in the fields. Regardless, the theme of The Return of the Gleaners is one that Breton worked on for a very long time, having first depicted a single field worker and over time expanding his compositions to more dynamic groupings of figures.
Unique to the present work is the sense and quality of the light. The Salon version depicts the moment of dusk when the fading rays of sunlight are still touching on the fields and figures. In the present painting it appears to be just slightly later in the evening, at the point just after sunset when night actually rises, enveloping the gleaners and the landscape in a darker atmosphere that hints at the rest from their labors that is to come.
Most importantly, as Bourrut-Lacouture notes, this work is a very important composition unto itself. In her forthcoming catalogue raisonné on the artist, she will expand on the fascinating evolution of The Return of the Gleaners, Artois, for which this work is an important and integral part.
We would like to thank Annette Bourrut-Lacouture for confirming the authenticity of this work and for providing information for this catalogue note. This painting will be included in her forthcoming Jules Breton catalogue raisonné.
(fig. 1) Jules Adolphe Breton, The Return of the Gleaners, Musée d'Orsay, Paris, Erich Lessing Art Resource, NY.
(fig. 2) Jules Adolphe Breton, Study for the figure on the right of the central motif in 'The Recall of the Gleaners', Private collection.
(fig. 3) Jules Adolphe Breton, Study for the figure on the left of the central motif for 'The Recall of the Gleaners', The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. H. B. Eisenstadt.