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1 of 1977 Breton, Jules

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Name	Breton, Jules
Nationality	French
Dates & Places of Birth and Death	French, 1827-1906 b. 1827, Paris, France d. 1906, Courrieres, France
Notes	Following his mother's death, Jules Breton was raised by his father, grandmother, and uncle in the village of Courrieres. His uncle instilled in him a respect for tradition and a commitment to the philosophical ideas of the eighteenth century. His father, a land agent for the Duc de Duras, encouraged him to develop a deep knowledge of and affection for his native region. His earliest formal training came at the College of St. Bertin in St. Omer. Here he met Felix de Vigne, and in 1843 began to study under him and Hendrick Van der Haert at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent, Belgium. His training was strictly academic, although he maintained a familiarity with the currents in genre painting. In 1847 he went to Paris to complete his training. While in Paris he became friendly with a number of Realist painters, including Francois Bonvin and Gustave Brion. During his stay in Paris he watched the Revolution of 1848, and exhibited decidedly liberal republican tendencies. He left, briefly, for Belgium in 1851, but returned to Paris the following year. Upon his return he began to explore rural peasant scenes, a subject matter that would become a mainstay for the rest of his career. His rural scenes won high praise at a number of Salons, and he was championed by an official of the government, Count Emilien de Nieuwerkerke, and thereby won state commissions. Breton's peasants were noted for their idealized faces and bodies, placed within a realistic setting. His view of rural peasant life, often depicting ritual, won him widespread awards and acclaim. His latter works suggest a slight shift towards a symbolism that is not evident in his earlier work. His works, extolling the virtues of hard work and evoking a time when life was much more in tune with local and natural rhythms, were very popular in the late ninettenth century in the USA. Breton also enjoyed some success as a writer.

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