Lot 134: Théophile-Louis Deyrolle , French 1844-1923 la chanson de mai, bretagne oil on canvas

signed TH Deyrolle lower right oil on canvas

110 by 151cm., 43¼ by 59½in.

Deyrolle was a student of Alexandre Cabanel and William Adolphe Bouguereau, debuting at the Paris Salon of 1876. He is best appreciated for his depictions of idyllic Breton scenes, celebrating the joys of rural childhood. These smiling peasant children are indicative of the vast popularity of genre scenes portraying children during the nineteenth century, as seen in the work of Théophile Duverger (lots 129 & 133), Pierre Edouard Frère and André Dargelas in France, Meyer von Bremen in Germany and Jan Marie Ten Kate in Holland.