
Public Domain
by Jules Breton
Jules Breton executed this Small Gleaner Sitting in the Field, depicting a young peasant girl resting during the harvest. She sits in golden stubble, taking a moment of pause from gathering leftover grain. Breton's warm sunlight and sympathetic portrayal idealize rural labor without sentimentality.
Breton specialized in scenes of French peasant life, particularly the harvest. Unlike Millet's more somber approach, Breton's workers appear healthy and dignified. His paintings were enormously popular with American collectors during the Gilded Age. This work is in a private collection.
Other masterpieces from the Academic Art movement

Rosa Bonheur, 1853
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Alexandre Cabanel, 1863
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1909
Tate Britain, London

Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1888
Private Collection, Unknown

William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1873
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown

William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1879
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Frederic Leighton, 1895
Tate Britain, London

Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1866
Clark Art Institute, Williamstown
Luxury wall art with the same mood and energy. Gallery-quality canvas, no museum crowds.
Browse Collection