Jules Bastien-Lepage (French, 1848–1884), Le Père Jacques (The Wood Gatherer), 1881. Oil on canvas, 77 1/2 × 71 1/2 in. (196.85 × 181.61 cm). Milwaukee Art Museum, Layton Art Collection, Inc., Gift of Mrs. E. P. Allis and her daughters in memory of Edward Phelps Allis. L102.
The Woodgatherer, painted for the Salon of 1882, is one of Jules Bastien-Lepage's most important works. The old woodsman, a family friend, and his granddaughter represent the heavy weariness of old age and the innocence of youth, as well as the passage of time. The remarkable color and handling of paint reflect the artist's unique ability to blend the greater luminosity and atmosphere of the Impressionists with the more conservative, precisionist technique of the Academicians. By the early 1880s, Bastien-Lepage had become the leader of the Naturalist school, and many of his contemporaries believed that he would one day succeed Manet as the leader of modern painting.
