Detail of The Pardon in Brittany by Dagnan-Bouveret in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, January 2022

Title: The Pardon in Brittany

Artist: Pascal-Adolphe-Jean Dagnan-Bouveret (French, Paris 1852–1929 Quincey)

Date: 1886

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 45 1/8 x 33 3/8 in. (114.6 x 84.8 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: Gift of George F. Baker, 1931

Accession Number: 31.132.34

Like many of his contemporaries, Dagnan-Bouveret was fascinated by the religious customs of Brittany in northern France. In this scene, penitents wearing traditional regional dress proceed solemnly around a church. Some go barefoot or kneel to demonstrate remorse. Annotated drawings on the reverse of the canvas indicate that the painter’s wife posed for the young woman in the foreground. When the picture was shown at the 1887 Salon and the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle, critics applauded its exactitude—unsurprising, as Dagnan-Bouveret used photographs to aid his work.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436076