Breton Folk: An artistic tour in Brittany

Breton Folk: An artistic tour in Brittany

The following notes were made during three summer tours in Brittany, in two of which the Author was accompanied by the Artist. Breton Folk is not a description of the antiquities of Brittany, nor even a book of folk-lore. It is a series of sketches of a black-and-white country under its summer aspect; of a sombre land shrouded with white clouds, peopled with peasants in dark costumes, wide white collars and caps, black and white cattle and magpies. ivThe illustrations, one hundred and seventy in number, have been drawn by the Artist from sketches made on the spot, and, apart from their artistic qualities, have the curious merit of truth. They have been engraved with the utmost care by Mr. J. D. Cooper. In an old-fashioned country-house there is often to be found a room built out from the rest of the structure, forming, as it were, the extreme western wing. It has windows looking to the west, its door of communication with the great house, and, in summer-time, a southern exterior wall laden with fruit and fragrant with clematis, honeysuckle, or jasmine. The interior differs from the rest of the mansion both in 2its furnishing and in the habits of its occupants. It is a room in which there is an absence of bright colours, where everything is quiet in tone and more or less harmonious in aspect; where solid woodwork takes the place of gilding, where furniture is made simply and solidly for use and ease, where decoration is the work of the handholding a needle, a chisel, or a hammer. The prevailing colours in this quaint old room, which give a sense of repose on coming from more highly decorated saloons, are blue, grey, and greenthe blue of old china, the grey of a landscape by Millet or Corot, the green that we may see sometimes in the works of Paul Veronese. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 53600
Author: Blackburn, Henry
Release Date: Nov 26, 2016
Format: eBook
Language: English

Contributors

Illustrator: Caldecott, Randolph, 1846-1886