After Jules Breton, Two Women at a Spring, 1880, Photogravure

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Two young countrywomen meet at a stone spring on an open hillside. One stands barefoot on the rocks at the … Read more Two young countrywomen meet at a stone spring on an open hillside. One stands barefoot on the rocks at the center, balancing a large earthenware jar on her shoulder with one raised arm while her other hand steadies its base; she wears a kerchief over her hair, a dark crossed bodice and a long skirt hitched at the waist. Her companion kneels at the left beside the square stone basin, resting one arm on its edge and holding a second jar under the spout, where a thin stream of water pours down. Tall iris leaves rise from the wet ground at the right, and behind the figures a grassy slope climbs to a pale, misty sky. The margin is lettered "Peint par Jules Breton" at left, naming the French painter whose work is reproduced, and "Photogravure & Imp. Goupil & Cie" at right, the line of the Paris publisher Goupil and Cie, which made and printed the plate. Breton was among the best loved painters of rural France in the later nineteenth century, admired for his dignified, idealized peasant women at work in the fields and at the well, and his pictures were widely reproduced. Goupil and Cie traded under that name until 1884, which places this impression before that date. Photogravure gives this print its soft, unbroken tones. A photograph of the painting was transferred to a copper plate, etched and printed in ink, so the gradations of the original survive: the sheen of the glazed jars, the folds of the skirts and the haze over the hill. The image sits within a clear plate mark on a wide cream sheet. Quiet and upright, the subject would look at home in a kitchen, a country house hallway or a bedroom, in a simple wood frame with a soft white mat. Condition: Light handling wear to the bottom left and top right corners; minor nicks along the left and right edges. Even age toning. Scattered light foxing and several larger brown spots in the margin. A few small light flecks in the printed area. This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed. See less