Pierre BILLET - Fishermen's wives

Pierre BILLET
Cantin (Nord), 1837 - Cantin, 1922
Oil on canvas
38.5 x 28.5 cm (48 x 36.5 cm with frame)
Signed lower left "Pierre Billet".
Canvas dealer's stamp "Tasset & Lothe / 31 rue Fontaine" (active in Paris between 1887 and 1899)
Attractive 19th-century black wood frame

Pierre Billet painted the people between Boulogne and Yport, near the coast. His realistic style recalls the art of Jules Breton, whom he knew well and whose pupil he was. He also knew the painters of the Wissant School, Adrien Demont, Virginie Demont-Breton and the Duhem family, Henri and Marie.
Our painting is a double portrait, and its charm lies in the touching relationship between the mother and daughter of a fishing family.
The spirit is that of Jules Breton. For example, Jules Breton's Young Fisherwoman in the Musée de Douai and another young fisherwoman by Billet, also in the Musée de Douai, can be compared to our painting. This is the art of social realism, which was a whole school in France in the 1870s/1890s. With attention to clothing detail, in this case the headdresses, mother's satchel and shoes. And the faces are well-painted, uncompromising but very human. The composition, however, and the beautiful colors - here red, blue and yellow - recall the academic training of the painters of this school (Jules Breton studied in Paris with Ingres and Horace Vernet).
Today, Pierre Billet's paintings can be found in numerous museums in France (Douai, Lille, Le Touquet) and abroad (Hermitage, Glasgow Museum).

Ref: 3EGQVR7QE1