Jules Adolphe Breton

(French, 1827-1906)

Le Lendemain de la Saint Sébastien

Footnotes

Provenance
Sold during the 1855 Universal Exhibition, Paris, probably to Gambart, London, through the intermediary of Madame Lefèvre, art dealer in Paris (according to correspondence between Jules Breton and his uncle Boniface).
Private collection, UK.

Exhibited
Paris, Universal Exhibition, 1855, no. 2629, a note accompanying the work in the exhibition catalogue reads: 'On this day, the fellow archers go from cabaret to cabaret, with their signs unfurled and led by transvestite musicians'.

Literature
A.J. Du Pays, 'Exposition Universelle des Beaux-Arts, S.I. Ecole française, Genre', L'Illustration, Journal Universel, Vol. XXVI, 20 October 1855, p. 270.
T. Gautier, 'Exposition Universelle de 1855', Le Moniteur Universel, 18 October 1855, p. 1.
J. De La Rochenoire, Le salon de 1855 apprécié à sa juste valeur pour 1 franc, Paris, 1855, p. 71.
J.E. Delécluze, Les Beaux-Arts dans les Deux Mondes en 1855, Paris, 1856, p. 271.
C. Duval, Exposition universelle 1855, l'Ecole française, Palais Montaigne, Paris, 1856, p. 84.
J.P. Clarens, 'Jules Breton, peintre et poète', Revue Littéraire et artistique, VIe année, no. 58, January 1888, p. 14.
J. Breton, La vie d'un Artiste / Art et Nature, Paris, 1890, p. 226-227.
A. Marguillier, 'Jules Breton par Marius Vachon', Gazette des Beaux-Arts, January 1899, T. 21, 3rd period, 1899, p. 86.
M. Vachon, Jules Breton, Paris, 1899, pp. 93-94.
A. Bourrut Lacouture, 'The Origins and Youth of Jules Breton', Jules Breton and the French Rural Tradition, edited by Hollister Sturges, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, 1982, p. 30.
A. Bourrut Lacouture, 'Jules Breton (1827-1906)', La Chanson des Blés, Editions d'Art Somogy, Paris, 2002, p. 82.
A. Bourrut Lacouture, Jules Breton, Painter of Peasant Life, New Haven and London, 2002, p. 82.

An albumen proof of this work taken by renowned French photographer André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri (1819–1889) in 1855 is held in the collection of the Musée d'Orsay, Paris (no. PHO 2006 2 4 28).

This is Jules Breton's first interior of Fest painting with many figures. At that time, there were quite a few archers' societies in the North of France (at Courrières also) and we know that the painter himself was a keen archer. The young Breton felt the desire to produce a genre scene to which he was attached, but whose slightly exaggerated comic aspects he captured with humour.

The musicians in costume appear in the centre front of the painting and a little boy, leaving his games on the ground, comes to stand in front of them, drawing even more attention to them. On the left and a little in the background, the games and the libations are quite skilfully linked to the background increasing the depth. On the right, the figures are a little more blurred, more spaced out, letting in the newcomers, ready to amuse themselves. Alone, an old peasant has turned his chair around and continues to eat his supper, with a pot in his hand, thus enjoying the musical spectacle better.

The paintings presented at the 1855 Exposition Universelle, Les Glaneuses, Courrières, Pas de Calais, Petites Paysannes consultant des épis and Le Lendemain de la Saint Sébastien were all well received and appreciated by the jury and influential guests, including among others, Eugène Delacroix, and the Belgian painters Wappers and Leys.

As soon as he arrived in Paris, Jules Breton was happy to see his studio friends commenting enthusiastically on his various paintings, including the present work which was appreciated by Gustave Brion and Gérôme in particular. The latter finds it 'painted with firmness... and of an excellent colour (unpublished letter from Jules Breton to Boniface Breton, 28 February 1855).

The silhouette of the young woman playing the trombone had amused Princess Mathilde, as Alfred Arago reminded her as she was admiring Les Glaneuses, '...Ah yes, the trombone!...' she said, imitating the instrument, much to the delight of the artist.

Théophile Gautier, much impressed by Les Glaneuses , like many critics, artists, and amateurs, was also captivated by Petites Paysannes consultant des épis and Le Lendemain de la Saint Sebastien (apparently earmarked by the Emperor for the Empress). The critic was also interested in this third painting by Breton: '... There is a lively sense of the grotesque in Le Lendemain de la Saint Sebastien... The musician, wearing a cap with bells, who strikes the bass drum with one hand and holds a damaged cymbal with the other, is painted with a master's hand; his acolytes are no less hilarious: they are puppets, not caricatures; Callot mixed with Knauss (German painter of the first order), without the slightest Biard: the action is comic, but the painting is serious...'. It is certain, in any case, that Ludwig Knauss would come to mind when seeing this scene.

This World Exhibition of 1855 was certainly a seminal moment in bringing recognition of the young Breton's wide and varied talent to a wider audience. He himself greatly admired the quality of many of his contemporaries and relayed as much in correspondence with his uncle.

We are grateful to Annette Bourrut Lacouture for compiling this catalogue entry.