A Sheepfold, by Jules G. Bahieu (1860-1895)

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How often do 9 or 10-year-olds so connect with something that they know immediately it will be their lifelong calling? … Read more How often do 9 or 10-year-olds so connect with something that they know immediately it will be their lifelong calling? Belgian-born artist Jules G. Bahieu (1860-1895) started his training early enough to paint this work of sheep drinking at a trough, resting on the straw—with one gazing at the downpour, and even and wandering rooster—all at age 15. (And just what were you doing at that age?) Unbeknownst to him at the time, he was already nearly halfway through his life.
For the decade preceding his untimely death, he exhibited at the prestigious annual Paris Salon, a rigorous jury-selected event to showcase living artists. In his successful career, Bahieu focused primarily on farm scenes, lots of sheep and chickens, as well as laudable nautical works. The Continent’s public ate them up. Rural settings offered comfort in a changing world, calling up idealized scenes of a simpler, rural life, Barbizon style, all wrapped up in a Gilded Age hand carved frame.
Bahieu's paintings can be found in the collections of several museums, including the Musée de Louviers in Louviers, France, and the Eugene-Boudin de Honfleur, also in France, where it shares space with such Normandie artists as Claude Monet and Gustave Courbet and Raoul Dufy. See less