Léon Lhermitte - Market Place of Ploudalmézeau, Brittany [1877]

Léon Lhermitte - Market Place of Ploudalmézeau, Brittany [1877], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Léon Lhermitte (1844 - 1925) was born in Mont-Saint-Père but became a student at the Petite Ecole in Paris, under the supervision of Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran, whose classes were also attended by Henri Fantin-Latour and Alphonse Legros among others. He exhibited at the Salon between 1866 and the first decade of the 20th century. He was a founder-member of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts in 1890 and was made officer of the Légion d'honneur in 1894.

This painting is typical of Lhermitte's peasant scenes. It shows a scene of everyday life in the market place of a small village in Brittany, Ploudalmézeau.

[Victoria & Albert Museum, London - Oil on canvas, 40 x 57.2 cm]