The Broken Jug By Gustave Jundt (1830-1884)

The Broken Jug oil on canvas by Gustave Jundt (1830-1884) French painter born in Strasbourg. Great work full of charm, which, in a rural atmosphere, allows the artist to highlight his interpretation of the theme of the broken jug. Nothing has yet happened to the young girl, the jugs she carries are in good condition, but the scene she discovers is perhaps premonitory. The little boy whose innocence, which seems lost here by his clumsiness, is rendered by the candidness of this pretty head with blond curls, the landscaped background integrates the very particular technique that Jundt uses for the creation of the fields of flowers, it is necessary to note the particular care taken in the representation of the fountain, which goes from the status of a simple everyday tool to that of an architectural element. Oil on canvas signed in red lower right. Beautiful period frame in wood and gilded stucco. The theme of the broken jug: La Fontaine, Aesop, and many others have written fables about the pot or the jug. One of the old sayings reminds us "The jug goes so much to the water that in the end it breaks". The image of the jug is common in many tales, and in particular those of the Middle Ages, and presents two analyses: that of the broken jug, which represents the loss of virginity, and that of the jug as a container of a liquid precious to life (water, milk) and which must be brought back after many efforts (fountain, milking) and which must be protected. The famous painting painted by Jean-Baptiste Greuze around 1771, collection Musée du Louvre on the theme of the broken jug, may have been the starting point, but Jundt may also have been inspired by Herbert von Kleist's play "Der zerbrochene Krug" published in German in 1806. 138 x 111 cm JUNDT Gustave 1830-1884 Born in Strasbourg, grandson of the Strasbourg goldsmith Jacques Fréderic Kirstein, trained at the workshop of Gabriel Guérin in Strasbourg then at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and with Drolling. Travels in Tyrol, Baden, Austria, England, participates in the Salon des Artistes Français in Paris, predilection for Alsatian subjects, also caricaturist illustrator and creator of children's books. Legion of Honor in 1880. His works are kept in Colmar Unterlinden Museum, Mulhouse Museum of Fine Arts, Abbeville, Dunkirk, Rouen, Strasbourg Museum of Fine Arts.