Study for -Mystical Brittany- by Hippolyte Dominique Berteaux

Study for -Mystical Brittany- 1904

drawing

possibly oil pastel

oil painting

acrylic on canvas

coffee painting

underpainting

france

painting painterly

animal drawing portrait

watercolour illustration

watercolor

fine art portrait

This study for Hippolyte Dominique Berteaux’s larger painting _Mystical Brittany_ from 1904 depicts three figures, likely from the region of Brittany in France. The central figure is a man with long white hair, holding a staff, while the figures on either side are young boys dressed in robes and carrying staffs. The artist, who was born in 1843 and died in 1928, used pastel and charcoal to create this preparatory sketch, highlighting the form and composition of the figures and the flow of their garments. This study provides insight into the artist’s creative process as he prepared for his final work.

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minneapolisinstituteofart about 1 year ago

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This drawing is a study for an enormous (25 by 68 feet) mural titled Mystical Brittany that adorned the stairway of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nantes. It is one of two murals Hippolyte Dominique Berteaux was asked to produce; Brittany at Work: The Threshing of Grain is still on view in the museum, but Mystical Brittany was severely damaged and is awaiting restoration. Mystical Brittany depicts a Pardon, an ancient religious ceremony and heralded annual custom in the life of the people of Brittany. On the feast day of the patron saint of the local church, community members donned traditional costumes and processed to a site dedicated to the saint. There they prayed and received remission for their sins, hence the name Pardon.