Peasant Girl Carrying a Jar, Quimperlé thumbnail 1
Peasant Girl Carrying a Jar, Quimperlé thumbnail 2
Not currently on display at the V&A

Peasant Girl Carrying a Jar, Quimperlé

Oil Painting
1882 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This portrait of a young girl has an intensely real quality. She is shown standing in a field, holding an earthenware pot, flanked by the spherical forms of flowering onion plants. The picture is influenced by the conventions of photography in its uncompromising directness. The girl is posing in a slightly awkward way, as if she were having a snapshot taken, showing none of the relaxed and confident attitudes of a professional model. Clausen represents the serious and somewhat doubtful expression on her face with great tenderness. He makes the viewer sense the mixed emotions that must have been in the mind of the child, confronted by the strange and foreign figure of the artist. Although the subtle colouring used by Clausen to some extent glamorises her peasant costume, we are still made aware of her life of poverty and hard work, indicated by the simplicity and homespun nature of her clothes.

George Clausen was a British painter who originally trained as a decorator. He studied painting at the South Kensington School of Art in London and the Antwerp Academy. The subject matter of this image is typical of the rustic scenes that Clausen favoured, partly as a result of the influence of French naturalism. This tendency, which first emerged in Clausen’s work in the late 1870s, was confirmed by his visit to the artists’ colony of Quimperlé in Brittany in 1882, when this picture was painted.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 3 parts.

  • Oil Paintings
  • Frames (Furnishings)
  • Frame
TitlePeasant Girl Carrying a Jar, Quimperlé (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
oil on canvas
Brief description
Oil painting entitled 'Peasant Girl Carrying a Jar, Quimperlé' by George Clausen R.A. British School, 1882.
Physical description
Full length portrait of a young Breton girl, carrying a jar or jug of milk, standing with her hand on her hip in a field. She is wearing traditional rural dress with a white bonnet.
Dimensions
  • Height: 46cm
  • Width: 27.7cm
  • Frame height: 367mm
  • Frame width: 553mm
  • Frame depth: 55mm
Frame dims provided by Nicola Costaras, March 2013: 367 x 553 x 55 mm
Style
Marks and inscriptions
'G CLAUSEN 1882 QUIMPERLÉ' (Signed and dated by the artist)
Gallery label
[Label requested by Japanese museum] "Peasant Girl, carrying a jar, Quimperlé" Sir George Clausen RA 1882 oil on canvas, 70.3 x 51.7 cm, Victoria and Albert Museum, England. This portrait of a young girl has an intensely real quality. She is shown standing in a field, holding an earthenware pot, flanked by the spherical forms of flowering onion plants. The picture is influenced by the conventions of photography in its uncompromising directness. The girl is posing in a slightly awkward way, as if she was having a snapshot taken, showing none of the relaxed and confident attitudes of a professional model. Clausen represents the serious and somewhat doubtful expression on her face with great tenderness. He makes the viewer sense the mixed emotions that must have been in the mind of the child confronted by the strange and foreign figure of the artist. Although the subtle colouring used by Clausen to some extent glamorises her peasant costume, we are still made aware of her life of poverty and hard work, indicated by the simplicity and homespun nature of her clothes.(September 2002)
Credit line
Bequeathed by Henry Louis Florence
Object history
Bequeathed by Henry L. Florence, 1916
Historical context
There is a striking similarity between Breton Girl Carrying a Jar and a work also painted in 1882 by Stanhope Alexander Forbes, The Orchard, Quimperle (lot 55 in Sotheby's, Victorian and Edwardian Art, 11 December 2007, London). Clausen joined Forbes in Brittany at this time.
Subject depicted
Place depicted
Summary
This portrait of a young girl has an intensely real quality. She is shown standing in a field, holding an earthenware pot, flanked by the spherical forms of flowering onion plants. The picture is influenced by the conventions of photography in its uncompromising directness. The girl is posing in a slightly awkward way, as if she were having a snapshot taken, showing none of the relaxed and confident attitudes of a professional model. Clausen represents the serious and somewhat doubtful expression on her face with great tenderness. He makes the viewer sense the mixed emotions that must have been in the mind of the child, confronted by the strange and foreign figure of the artist. Although the subtle colouring used by Clausen to some extent glamorises her peasant costume, we are still made aware of her life of poverty and hard work, indicated by the simplicity and homespun nature of her clothes.

George Clausen was a British painter who originally trained as a decorator. He studied painting at the South Kensington School of Art in London and the Antwerp Academy. The subject matter of this image is typical of the rustic scenes that Clausen favoured, partly as a result of the influence of French naturalism. This tendency, which first emerged in Clausen’s work in the late 1870s, was confirmed by his visit to the artists’ colony of Quimperlé in Brittany in 1882, when this picture was painted.
Bibliographic references
  • Livingstone, Karen & Parry, Linda (eds.), International Arts and Crafts, London : V&A Publications, 2005 no. 2.9
  • John House and Mary Anne Stevens, eds. post-Impressionism: cross-currents in European Painting London: Royal Academy of Arts: 1979. ISBN: 0297777130.
  • Kenneth McConkey, ed. Sir George Clausen, R.A. 1852-1944: an exhibition organised by Bradford Art Galleries and Museums, and Tyne and Wear County Council Museums Bradford: City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council; Gateshead: Tyne and Wear County Council, 1980. ISBN: 0905974042.
  • Kenneth McConkey Impressionsim in Britain New Haven: Yale University Press in association with the Barbican Art Gallery, 1995. ISBN: 0300063350.
  • Adrian Jenkins Painters and Peasants: Henry La Thangue and British rural Naturalism, 1880-1905 Bolton: Bolton Museum and Art Gallery, 2000.. ISBN: 0906585317.
  • Peintres Britanniques en Bretagne Pont-Aven: Musée de Pont-Aven, 2004. ISBN: 2910128326.
Collection
Accession number
P.54-1917

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Record createdSeptember 23, 2002
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