Jules, Jacques Veyrassat
An important painting by Jules Jacques Veyrassat, a painter specializing in horses, exhibited at the 1876 Salon. A work of exceptional artistic quality.
Oil on canvas, signed and dated 1876 in the lower right corner.
Dimensions: 60 x 81 cm
With frame: 89 x 108 cm
Exhibited at the 1876 Paris Salon under number 2016 and titled “Towhorse Relay Station”
Price: €15,000
Jules, Jacques Veyrassat, known for his realistic depictions of workhorses and rural scenes.
Following in the footsteps of Troyon and Millet, the charming petit maître Jules Veyrassat faithfully captures the rural life of the countryside and portrays the horse as the farmer’s companion: he depicts it at the watering trough, plowing, hauling loads along towpaths, resting in the shade of trees, and at the farrier’s.
“Horse-Drawn Cart Relay Station,” a work of exceptional quality featuring highly detailed artwork.
Towing horses, still harnessed and accompanied by their drivers, are resting in front of a relay station near a river.
Thanks to his keen eye for detail, his drawings are exceptionally precise. In his paintings, as seen here, he enjoys working with his medium, which sometimes has a lumpy texture but is always executed with perfect precision.
Biography
A French painter and printmaker of the Barbizon School, Jules Jacques Veyrassat studied in Paris in Henri Lehmann’s studio and exhibited his first works at the Salon in 1848.
He made a name for himself in France through his paintings and engravings,
He is one of the most highly decorated painters and engravers for his works depicting nature. He was named a Knight of the Legion of Honor in 1878.
Enrolled at the school in Écouen—the town where he had a room—he attended classes taught by Pierre-Édouard Frère, with whom he became friends.
He is also associated with the Barbizon School. His work is similar to that of Charles Jacque and Jean-François Millet, whom he knew well.
Adopting a realistic approach, he based his work on observations of rural life in the French countryside of that era. His subjects explore the themes of livestock farming and the use of horses in agricultural life.
He has never left his home country, but his fame has spread throughout Europe.
Jules Jacques Veyrassat died on July 2, 1893, in the 9th arrondissement of Paris and was buried at Père-Lachaise Cemetery.
Bibliography
– Bénézit dictionary.
• “Dictionary of 19th-Century French Landscape Painters” by Lydia Harembourg
• Philip Gilbert Hamerton, *Chapters on Animals*, London: Seeley, Jackson, and Halliday, 1874.
• Philip Gilbert Hamerton, P.G. Hamerton’s *Etching and Etchers*, Macmillan & Co., 1880.
• Daniel Baduel, Aude Bertrand, Christian Dauchel, *The Écouen School: A Colony of Painters in the 19th Century*, Domont,
Museums
France
• Paris: Louvre Museum;
Musée d’Orsay;
Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac Museum.
• Béziers, Museum of Fine Arts
• Chartres, Museum of Fine Arts
• Dijon, Museum of Fine Arts
• Grenoble, Grenoble Museum
• La Roche-sur-Yon, Municipal Museum
• Pau, Museum of Fine Arts: Towing Horses on the Seine.
• Péronne, Alfred-Danicourt Museum: Horses Plowing.
• Reims, Museum of Fine Arts:
• Rennes, Museum of Fine Arts: *Loading the Cart*.
• Rouen, Museum of Fine Arts: Algerian Study,
• Soissons, Soissons Museum: Farmyard.
– Toulouse, Musée des Augustins.
United Kingdom
•Manchester, Manchester Art Gallery.
United States
• Baltimore, Walters Art Museum
• San Francisco:
• De Young Museum;
• Williamstown, Clark Art Institute.
