Haymaking
by BASTIEN-LEPAGE, Jules, Oil on canvas, 180 x 195 cm
Dubbed the “grandson of Millet and Courbet” by Zola, Jules Bastien-Lepage specialised in agricultural scenes which were a far remove from the affected pastoral scenes that cluttered the Salon. Zola was excited by Haymaking, seeing it as the masterpiece of naturalism in painting.