Jules Breton

Félix De Vigne, Ghent
Sale: Christie's, London, April 13, 1889, lot 4
MacLean Galleries (acquired at the above sale)
Sale: Christie's, London, June 1, 1910, lot 148 (as The Haymaker, 1875)
Knoedler & Co., New York (acquired at the above sale)
Major Edward Bowes (and sold, his sale, Parke Bernet, New York, November 13, 1943, lot 172, illustrated as Jeanne d'arc, "Hearing the Voices")
Private Collector (acquired at the above sale)

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This painting is very fresh and in healthy condition. The canvas has an old European lining. The painting is cleaned and there do not appear to be any retouches or damages. The slight thinness in the tree as it goes against the sky in the upper left is all original. The painting should be hung as is.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Jules Breton's connection to the land was matched by his love of its people. As the self-proclaimed "peasant who paints peasants", he believed that the special purity of rural life must be held above all else, asserting: "I do not see everything as beautiful, for sure: but I am so often moved by what I see of... the inner nature of things... that is what moves me more than anything else" (as quoted in Bourrut Lacouture, p. 233). Breton tightened his focus on a single female figure in a number of paintings from the 1870s and 1880s. These works developed his naturalistic style of painting and also elevated a once humble subject to an icon of rural life. Unlike many of his works in which peasants carry out their daily tasks or their work in the fields, Faneuse assise à l’orée d’un bois lacks a specific narrative force; in her solitude at the edge of the forest she stands as an emblem of Breton's rural vision.

Whether he intended a narrative or not, Faneuse assise à l’orée d’un bois was last offered at auction in 1941 with the title Jeanne d'arc, "Hearing the Voices". It had been consigned by Edward "Major" Bowes (1874-1946), host of "Major Bowes' Original Amateur Hour," one of the most popular radios shows of the 1930s and 1940s. Bowes was a well-known art collector and an important benefactor to New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral, and is said to have funded the Cathedral's grand brass doors. It is possible that he made the association between the subject of this painting and Joan of Arc, projecting the heroic narrative onto this French peasant woman. Associating Breton’s works with grand archetypes had been practiced since France lost the war of 1870 (which deeply upset Breton) through to the 1890s, when Bowes likely acquired the present work. This was not Breton’s intention and, in reaction to a critic in Le Français, he wrote: “in a political article (the critic) compared France waiting for her King to my Breton woman waiting for her boat! This is not what I was trying to do.” (as quoted in Bourrut Lacouture, p. 151).

Breton’s figures are not without association, however. In Faneuse assise à l’orée d’un bois, Breton has stoically posed his model on a tree stump as she pauses from her work in the fields. He has taken liberties with proportion to emphasize the strong, architectural features that connect her with the enduring image of a caryatid; and with her long rake resting on the ground and the weight of her head on one hand, the pose recalls the winged figure of Albrecht Dürer’s Melancholia, which was a popular image and may have influenced the artist.

Breton's models for his paintings were chosen among the people of his native village of Courrières, and specific women repeatedly appear in compositions of the period.  While other sitters have been identified, such as Soisik Jouinou, who sat for Jeune fille gardant des vaches of 1871 and La source of 1872, no archival evidence has provided a conclusive identity for Faneuse assise à l’orée d’un bois.