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Frank Crawford Penfold 1849 – 1927

Breton Girl and Child

Oil on canvas laid on board. 21 x 18 inches
Signed by the artist

Price: E8,500 including shipping worldwide

Another permanent resident amongst the Americans in Brittany was Frank Penfold. He became enamoured with the way of life in Pont-Aven, and established an art school there as well as a home. He hailed from Lockport, New York, where he trained under his father who was a successful portrait painter. He was in France by 1879 and probably went directly to Pont-Aven. However, in 1884 he enrolled in the Academie Julian in Paris but it appears that he returned to Brittany at the end of the year. He travelled home regularly and occasionally taught at the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy.

His Breton works depict colourful religious processions; harvesting in the fields; and busy market scenes. Many feature small children, one example being a young girl picking flowers in woodland; another depicts a large family group outside a church after a christening. A further example shows a small girl being ferried across a river by her mother. Our painting has been described as a mother and child but it could equally well be a sister and brother. The blue headdress, set against the crisp white of the girl’s spectacular collar and the green of the meadow, creates an immediate impact in this sympathetically handled work. The costume identifies the girl as a native of Fouesnant, and can be compared to Paul Grégoire’s painting of a laundress, which we catalogued in 2005. Famous for its cider festival, Fouesnant is on the south coast of Finistère, west of Concarneau, where Penfold painted in the latter part of his career.

 

Edward Drummond Young 1876 - 1946

A Corner of the Market, Concarneau

Oil on canvas 19½ x 15½ inches
Signed by the artist
Title inscribed on label verso, No. II
with an address at 8 Randolph Crescent, Edinburgh

Price: E2,650 Euros including shipping worldwide.

Edward Drummond Young’s father was born in Glasgow and later moved to Edinburgh where he established a portrait practise. Johnson and Greutzner’s Dictionary of British Artists refers to an Edinburgh painter, Edmund D. Young although it appears that Edward and Edmund were one and the same. Records suggest that he exhibited flower and still life paintings between the years 1908 and 1940, mostly at the Royal Scottish Academy and also at the Glasgow, Liverpool and the Royal Academy, London. A fine example of this type, painted in the style of the Glasgow colourists, was sold in London in 2001. He founded the Pen and Pencil Club and the Rustic Arts Club.

The bright bluish tonality of the present painting is reminiscent of William John Leech, as it the manner in which the paint is handled. The long shadow cast by the figures suggests early morning. A woman in traditional Breton costume busies herself with the reins of her cart horse. Perhaps she has just arrived from an outlying village and has brought produce for the market stalls. She has thrown some hay for the horse to feed on beneath the tree, which also provides shade from the morning sun. Another horse is tethered alongside as shoppers make their way to and from the market along one of the many side streets, which lead into the town from the quayside. The market in Concarneau continues to this day and takes place on the wide quayside in the old port.

 

Beatrice Egan fl.1920s

Les Blanchisseuses

Oil on canvas, 25 x 32 inches
Signed by the artist
Inscribed with title verso

Exhibited: Paris Salon, 1931, number 807

Price: E2,600 Euros including shipping worldwide.

According to Benezit’s dictionary of painters, Beatrice Egan was an American painter, born in London, who studied under George Elmer Browne, presumably in Paris. Browne hailed from Gloucester, Massachusetts who was resident in Paris. However, according to the Paris Salon catalogue, she was born in Horley, Surrey. Her address is given as 31 bis, rue Campagne-Premiere, one of the most illustrious artist’s studios in Paris. The famous art nouveau building was designed by Alexandre Bigot in 1911 and is adorned with decoration by the céramiste André Arfidson. Beatrice exhibited an earlier work at the Salon in 1928 entitled Au Clair de Lune and apart from this, very little else is known about her career. There is a possibility that she married and exhibited under a different name.

This painting may have been done during summer vacation when it was customary for students to go into the countryside to paint. Many went to Brittany where the lodgings were inexpensive and models and subject matter could be found in abundance. The theme of an open air laundry was a popular one and many other examples can be found on our pages. In the present work, the washed clothes have been laid out to dry in the sun while a group of women work at trestle tabled beneath an open shelter.

Edmond Petitjean 1844 - 1925

Stacking Hay 

Oil on canvas, 11 x 19 ½ inches. Signed by the artist
Inscribed on label verso: achete a M. Petit Jean, Mai 1873 

Price: E6,950 Euros including shipping worldwide

Edmond Petitjean was born on the 5th of July 1844, in Neufchateau, France. Inspired by the simple naturalism of Courbet, he worked mainly as a landscape painter and produced many views of Lorraine, and river scenes along the banks of the Meuse. His seascapes usually feature the busy ports of the west coast of France, and occasionally those of Normandy. He travelled widely throughout France, and also painted in Holland. Petitjean appears not to have dated his works prior to 1876. However, the label attached to our painting suggests a fairly reliable date of 1873. This was the year in which he made his debut at the Paris Salon with a painting called Morte-eau près de Blainville. At this time the Impressionists were preparing for their inaugural exhibition, held in Paris the following year. Although Petitjean did not join them, their influence was widespread. The treatment of the sky in this painting is not unlike the work that Eugene Boudin was painting at this time. Petitjean’s harbour scenes are also very close in style.

The long shadow, in which a young child sits, suggests an evening scene. The meadow grass has been dried by the sun, and is gathered and forked into small stacks by the field workers. Harvesting scenes such as this were a particular favourite with the French naturalists of the late nineteenth century. It has not been possible to identify the town in the background, even though the landmarks are distinctive, and similar to the architecture of the towns and villages surrounding Petitjean’s native Neufchateau. However, following two destructive wars, it may be that many of these buildings no longer exist. The church on the left, which may be the earliest of the buildings, stands on high ground overlooking the town, the base of its spire rising from a sphere, which sits on top of the tower. A little further to the right, a monument in the form of a column or needle can be seen. This is likely to stand on the town square. Further to the right, another spire is surrounded by tall trees, and may be the turret of a chateau. Moving further right, a modern church spire appears in the distance. On the extreme right is the most distinctive church in the painting. It has been suggested that this is the Basilica of St. Nicolas de Port, but the rest of the architecture does not appear to fit in. The two spires with rounded domes and open belfries are also similar to those of the Eglise St. Jacques de Luneville, but again the surrounding buildings are not identifiable. Examples of Petitjean's work may be found in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, and the Musee d'Orsay, Paris, and many regional museums throughout France. 

 

William Banks Fortescue 1855 - 1924 

A Fisherman’s Dwelling

Oil on canvas, 18 x 14 inches. Signed by the artist
Artist’s label verso with title and address at St. Ives, Cornwall 

Exhibited
Royal Society of Artists, Birmingham, 1923

Price: E7,850 including shipping worldwide

The fisherman’s house is built around an open courtyard surrounded by a lean-to structure supported above massive timber posts, probably cut from shipwrecked masts. Much of the activity of the household appears to take place here. The fisherman’s wife toils over a large tub in which she washes clothes that are then hung to dry. The tub is filled from a distinctive pitcher, probably manufactured from local copper. Without creating a fussy painting, Fortescue notices details such as the white bib and tip of the cat’s tail, happily feeding on a plate of fish. The large terracotta jar in the foreground was probably used for curing fish with salt spread from the smaller container. The fish strung from the rafters has already been preserved and is hung under cover to dry, all in preparation for the winter months ahead. The fishing net has been taken from the harbour for repair. The theme of the painting is similar to a number of other Fortescue works of the period, for example Fisher Girl and Mending Nets.

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