'Bretonne Cowherd in Pasture' by Julien Dupré, Circa 1880; Barbizon School, Proto-Impressionism, Louvre, Paris, Brittany

Description

A cabinet-size, grisaille oil on panel landscape showing a young Bretonne cowherd attempting to direct a reluctant Guernsey cow, which … more A cabinet-size, grisaille oil on panel landscape showing a young Bretonne cowherd attempting to direct a reluctant Guernsey cow, which appears determined on a different direction.
Unsigned and with label verso bearing artist's name and dates.
Displayed in a burl walnut frame.
Framed dimensions: 10 x .75 x 14.25 Inches

This work is a fully realized study for the foreground figural group in Julien Dupré's (French, 1882 oil painting, "In Pasture", held in the permanent collection of the Kemper Art Museum, Washington University, St. Louis, (see photo #12). In 1886, this large work was purchased by member subscription for the museum's permanent collection.

Julien Dupré first exhibited at the 1876 Paris Salon and, thereafter, almost continuously until his death in 1910. Over the course of a long and distinguished career, he was the recipient of numerous prizes, medals and juried awards including a gold medal at the Paris Fair of 1889. In 1992, he was invested as a companion of the Legion of Honor for his services to art.

Julien Dupré was one of the leading exponents of the second generation of Realist painters. This group included Barbizon artists and, also, more committed realists such as Leon Lhermitte and Jules Bastien-Lepage. Like the earlier generation of Realists that included Jean-Francois Millet and Jules Breton, these artists focused on the artistic elevation of French rural life and the labors of the rural peasantry that sustained it.

As Hollister Sturges, the former chief curator of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, has observed, "...Salon critics rightly perceived Julien Dupré as Breton's closest follower. Through idealization of form, he invested his peasant women with a heroic aura, though unlike his predecessor, his figures are usually engaged in vigorous action. His landscapes, with their cloudy skies and varied motifs, are also much more active. Their high key color and spontaneous brushwork have a vivacity and freshness that distinguishes them from the sober calm of Breton's scenes. Dupré's most enduring and powerful image is that of a single, Herculean, female, positioned dramatically and elegantly in the foreground of the painting, pitching hay. His finely modeled figures pay tribute to his academic training, as well as his study of the works of Breton and Bouguereau; while his freer handling of the background areas, at times done with a palette knife, shows the influence of the Impressionists." (Jules Breton and the French Rural Tradition"; Joslyn Art Museum, 1982.)

Julien Dupre's work is held in the permanent collection of numerous public museums including:
Washington University Art Gallery, St. Louis, "In Pasture" (1882)
Washington University Art Gallery, St. Louis, "Haying Scene" (1882)
St. Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, "Haying Scene" (1884)
Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, "The Haymakers" (1886)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, "Haymaking" (1892)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, "Young Woman Watering Cattle"
Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, "Return From the Fields" (n.d.)
Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, "The Young Shepherdess"
San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA. "In the Pasture" (1883)
The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, "Children Feeding Geese" (1881)
The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA. "Milking Time"

Reference:
Benezit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs, et Graveurs, Vol. 4 p. 889; Thieme-Becker, Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Kunstler, Vol. 9/10, p. 177; Davenport’s Art Reference Guide, 2009/10 Edition, p. 828; AskArt; et al. less