Jules Adolphe Aimé Louis Breton (1827 – 1906) was a French realist painter known for his paintings of the rural existence of women. Far from the luxury of the elite, these women were still seen in an idyllic light, especially to the city-dwelling art-goers of the salons. His paintings, however, were much derided by the “modernists” for their classical qualities.

Breton’s inspiration for his paintings came from his childhood, which was spent in a rural village in the north west of France. His father worked for a wealthy landowner, supervising his land. He would study art not too far from his birthplace at the College St. Bertin, where he was trained as an academic artist, well aware of genre paintings. He would then perfect his craft studying in Paris. He would develop his niche as a painter of peasants, showing the plight of the less fortunate. His paintings became so popular in some salons that he had to reproduce copies of his own work.

In his later years he moved from realism to symbolism, while keeping his subject matter fairly consistent. He would be remembered as a champion of rural existence.