A Haymaker
Femme versant à boire
Le ballon
Dupré’s large Salon painting, The Balloon, takes the subject of hot air balloon flight as the focal point of his narrative. Although not a typical theme in French painting, the subject was nevertheless popular in the nineteenth century. France was home to the inventors of the hot air balloon, Joseph-Michel Montgolfier (1740-1810) and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier…
Read MoreLa brouette
Le troupeau d’oies
Children Feeding Geese is listed as Le troupe d’oies (A Flock of Geese) in Dupré’s account book (no. #32) in 1881. When he sold it to Michel Knoedler that same year, the art dealer listed it as Gardeuse d’oies (Goose Girl) in his stock book.¹ As the painting made its way to the United States,…
Read MoreWoman with a Wheelbarrow
The windmill in the background of this scene indicates that it was painted near the Laugée family estate in Nauroy. One of Georges Laugée’s photographs depicts this locale clearly. (fig. 1) The windmill in the background of the photograph has been directly transported into Dupré’s painting of a harvester with her laden wheelbarrow.
Read MoreLe repos
This painting has appeared under several different titles since it was created. In the late twentieth century, it was listed as Le temp de moisson (Harvest Time) in both the Joslyn Art Museum’s 1982 exhibition catalogue, Jules Breton and the French Rural Tradition and in Christie’s International Magazine in 1987. Dupré’s account book, however, lists…
Read MoreUne faneuse
Peasant Woman Leaning on a Hayfork
Dupré’s understanding and appreciation of the hard physical labor involved in rural life is apparent in this canvas. The weariness of her pose and her dirty hands speak of the grueling nature of her work; and the patched and mended clothing suggest that the wages for this effort are meagre. Yet, the monumentality of the…
Read MoreHarvester’s Rest
Harvesters Rest is one of three paintings in a small group on this theme from the early 1880s. (R1001, R1003) In this canvas, there are three figures: the same woman who appears in the other two paintings, and both the mustachioed man from the first painting (R1001) and the bearded man from the 1882 painting…
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