The secret

Joseph Bail was a pupil of Jean Léon Gêrome and Carolus-Durand. As his career progressed, so did his confidence in his character portrayals. The present work is likely to have been influenced by Bail's summer excursions to the countryside outside Fontainebleau, perhaps it even recalls a moment the artist himself stumbled upon in the woodland. Bail regularly submitted to the Salons and towards the end of his careers was 'hors concours', or exempt from having to submit his works for jury approval. Bail received many awards during his lifetime and won a gold medal in the 1900 Exposition Universelle Chevalier, the same year that he was named a Legion d' Honneur.