Jules Breton

Theodoros Kotsikas, Cairo
Private Collector, Cairo (acquired from the above circa 1930)
Private Collector, Athens (by descent from the above in 1951)
Thence by descent to the present owner

Possibly, Paris, L'exposition décennale de l'art français, 1900, no. 293

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This painting is in very fresh condition. The canvas is not lined and the paint layer may never have been fully cleaned. The varnish is extremely dull at present and the picture is quite dirty. At some point in the past a damage was made in the sky in the upper center and although the damage itself measures approximately four by two inches, the extent of the restoration is considerably more exaggerated. Whether this is the full extent of retouches to the picture is unknown. It seems likely that this is the only legitimate damage and restoration. The artist has changed the shape of the setting sun and the pentiment here is quite visible around the semi sphere of the sun. There is also a small pentiment above the head of the standing figure and there are other applications of varnish in the center of the sky which are uneven. To the left of the sun on the horizon there is a pentiment of another element of the composition which the artist painted out but which is now slightly visible. There is an area in the far right corner where a glaze has dripped vertically, which is also the result of the artist's technique. Hardly anything shows under ultraviolet light and it would be foolhardy to insist that there are no other restorations to the painting. While there may be some which are not mentioned in this report, the painting will restore effectively and will be seen to be in good condition. The painting is thinly and rapidly painted, yet not noticeably damaged.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

In the late 1880s until the end of his career, Breton turned his focus to landscape and light, particularly the unique atmospheric qualities of Artois. With Les Sarcleuses de lin (The Flax Pickers), Breton emphasizes field and sky; the burnt orange rays of the setting sun subsumed by the darkening clouds, contrasted with the smooth expanses of shortly cropped green fields.  In the painting, fieldworkers search for short stems, their hunched forms receding in line along with the neatly furrowed rows of plants; only the faces of the two foremost figures are visible. Not unlike the French symbolists of the end of the nineteenth century, Breton uses dusk and twilight hours to create an introspective mood, while the great expanse of the landscape, and the fieldworkers' relatively small place within it, reflect early nineteenth century Romantics belief in the sublime power of nature (Hollister Sturges, Jules Breton and the French Rural Tradition, exh. cat., Omaha, 1983, p. 22).  As Breton explained "life is mysterious,... and only those, whether poets or artists, who are penetrated deeply with it, have a power to touch the feelings.  What is the sky to me if it does not give me the idea of infinity" (Jules Breton, La vie d'un Artiste, as quoted in Sturges, p. 22). Above all, Les Sarcleuses de lin reflects an artist who intimately understood and was affected by a land and its people. 

Breton's Les Sarcleuses de lin is among his last great figural paintings. A black-and-white photo in Annette Bourrut Lacouture's archives suggests that Les Sarcleuses de Lin  was likely exhibited among the fifteen works the artist submitted to the 1900 L'Exposition Universelle décenale with the date of 1901 being later or mistakenly added by the artist.