Oil On Canvas, Breton School, Late 19th Century, "young Peasant Woman By The Sea"

Oil on canvas – Breton School, late 19th century. Young peasant woman in a field by the sea.

This late 19th-century oil on canvas depicts a young peasant woman gleaning in a simple and unadorned coastal landscape.
This scene of rural life is in keeping with the naturalist tradition of French painters active in Brittany at the end of the 19th century.
The female figure is rendered with restraint and beautiful light.
Her precise and unaffected gesture conveys a careful observation of the peasant world. In the background, the low, calm sea horizon clearly anchors the composition in a coastal environment.
The deliberately muted palette combines bluish grays, ochres, and muted greens. The brushwork is fine and controlled, executed in thin layers, with subtle rendering of the soil and grasses.
The whole demonstrates a solid academic training and a naturalist sensibility characteristic of the Breton school of this period. Unsigned or with a barely legible signature, attributable to a French painter of the Breton school, circa 1880–1900.
Oil on canvas stretched over cardboard with a very slight tear in the upper left corner; it would benefit from being lightly restretched.
Presented in an antique, repainted frame.
Dimensions without frame: 43 x 32 cm, with frame: 55 x 46 cm