Pierre Billet - The Fishermen's Wives

Pierre BILLET Cantin (North), 1837 – Cantin, 1922 Oil on canvas 38.5 x 28.5 cm (48 x 36.5 cm with the frame) Signed lower left “Pierre Billet” Pretty 19th century black wooden frame century Pierre Billet painted people between Boulogne and Yport, near the coast. His realistic style is reminiscent of the art of Jules Breton, whom he knew well and of whom he was a student. He also knew the painters of the Wissant School, Adrien Demont, Virginie Demont-Breton and the Duhems, 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 indeed that of Jules Breton. For example, the Young Fisherwoman by Jules Breton from the Douai Museum and another young fisherwoman by Billet kept at the Douai Museum can also be compared to our painting. It is the art of social realism which was a whole school in France in the 1870s/1880s. With attention to clothing details with here the headdresses, the mother's bag and the shoes. And the well-painted faces, without concession but with a lot of humanity. The composition, however, and the beautiful colors - here the red, blue and yellow - recall the academic training of the painters of this school (Jules Breton followed the courses of Ingres and Horace Vernet in Paris). Pierre Billet's paintings can be found today in many museums, in France (Douai, Lille, Le Touquet) and abroad (L'Ermitage, the Glasgow museum)