Julien Dupré (French, 1851-1910)

Born in Paris in 1851, Julien Dupré is regarded as the leading exponent of the second-generation of Realist painters, whose depictions of the toils of the French peasants were true to the ideals of his predecessors Jean-François Millet and Jules Breton. Exhibited in the 1886 Salon, the present work is a slightly more humorous take on French peasant life than most of Dupré’s work. The work may be related to the work that Dupré exhibited at the Salon the previous year, La vache échappée, now in the Musée d’Orsay, which depicts a similar cow to that of the present lot making her escape toward an open field, pursued by her keeper. The work was very well received when it was exhibited at the Salon, with one reviewer describing it as ‘splendid’ and ‘pulsing with life.’
We are grateful to Howard L. Rehs & Professor Janet Whitmore for confirming the authenticity of this work from a photograph, which will be included in the forthcoming Julien Dupré catalogue raisonné.