Jules Breton

                                                          Le Pardon De Kergoat

(b Courrières, Pas-de-Calais, 1 May 1827; d Paris, 5 July 1906).

French painter and writer. After the death of his mother he was brought up in the village of Courrières by his father, grandmother and uncle. The last instilled in him respect for tradition and a commitment to the philosophical ideas of the 18th century. Breton’s father, as supervisor of the lands of the Duc de Duras, encouraged him to develop a deep knowledge of and affection for his native region and its heritage, which remained central to his art