Théodore Valério (1819–1879) - Study of a Breton shepherdess

Théodore VALERIO
(Herserange, 1819 – Vichy, 1879)

Study of a Breton shepherdess

Oil on canvas mounted on cardboard
Bears the sale stamp at the bottom
31 x 22 cm

Provenance: Sale of the artist's studio after his death, Paris, 1880

Of Italian origin, Théodore Valério was born in 1819 in Moselle, not far from the Luxembourg border and in 1834 entered the Parisian workshop of Nicolas-Toussaint Charlet. The two artists quickly became friends and traveled together in 1836 across Europe (Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Hungary, the Balkans, etc.).

Valério made his public debut in 1838, at just nineteen years old, at the Paris Salon. He continued to exhibit there until the end of his life. He was also regularly present in the provinces at the Salons of Lyon and Rouen.

Painter, engraver and designer, he was particularly renowned for his ethnographic works. He endeavored to faithfully transcribe the costumes and customs of the countries and regions visited. These documentary works were praised by the critic Théophile Gautier, who saw Valério as an artist-ethnographer and an important set of drawings and watercolors by the artist were exhibited at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1855, which was a great success. and was purchased by the State; these are now part of the collection of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

Our little oil study is most likely inspired by a Breton shepherdess and was produced at the end of his career when Valerio settled in the 1870s in Morbihan. The artist died in Vichy on September 14, 1879.

Museums: Metz, École des Beaux-Arts de Paris…