Featured Artist: Jules Breton (1827-1906)
March 19, 2007
| As one of the primary academic painters of the nineteenth century, Jules Breton evolved a painting style that combined a realist selection of thematic material with an interest in creating figural types that reflected the idealism of the classical traditions. His paintings were often regarded as containing poetic references and his compositions suggest a timeless world where the workers of the field symbolically were linked with literary elegies that evoked their best qualities. Although his works were out of favor for a long period of time, and his compositions were often used as convenient examples of so-called "bad-painting" by supporters of the modernist camp who panned any style whose goal was to portray the trials of the human condition instead of being dedicated to destroying the defining characteristics of great traditional art. Breton's celebration of human values of work, family, home and hearth did not fit into their nihilistic paradigm, despite his poignant and poetic themes painted with a compositional force and sophistication of technique that clearly places him amongst the greatest artists of his time. Breton's paintings have returned to public consciousness through recent exhibitions and an interest in collecting his works by private patrons and museums. He is an artist who has benefitted greatly from the long over due revisionist reappraisal of nineteenth century academic painting. Jules Breton was from a rural region in the north western part of France. He was born (May 1, 1827) and spent his youth in Courrières, a small village in the Pas-de-Calais; he died in Paris on July 5, 1906. His father, Marie-Louis Breton worked for a wealthy landowner whose land he supervised. After the death of his mother, when Jules was 4, he was brought up by his father. Others in the family, who lived in the same house, and had a deep influence on the young artist's upbringing, were his maternal grandmother and especially his uncle Boniface Breton. All instilled in the young man a respect for tradition, a love of the land and, especially, for his native region, which remained central to his art throughout his whole life providing the artist with many scenes for his Salon compositions. He received his first artistic training not far from Courrières at the College St. Bertin near St. Omer. Later (1842) he met the painter Félix de Vigne (1806-1862) who was impressed by his youthful talent and persuaded his family to let him study art. In 1843, Breton left for Ghent (Belgium) where he continued to study art at the Academy of Fine Arts with de Vigne, and an other teacher from the school, the painter Hendrik Van der Haert (1790-1846). Sometime later (1846), Breton moved to Antwerp where he took lessons with Baron Gustaf Wappers; he also spent much of his time copying the works of Flemish masters. Trained as an academic artist, Breton was well aware of other artistic tendencies such as the role of genre painting. In 1847, Breton finally left for Paris where he hoped to perfect his artistic training at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. |  Jules Breton The Song of the Lark Oil on Canvas 1887 The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA  Jules Breton The Water Carrier,1881 (81.9 x 61.6 cm) Private Collection  Jules Breton The Rest of the Haymakers Oil on Canvas 1872 Denison University, Granville, Ohio, USA |