The Colza (Harvesting Rapeseed)

Jules Breton (1827-1906) was a French painter known for his idealized scenes of peasant life that combine the naturalistic observation of the Realist tradition with the poetic mood of the academic tradition. The Colza (Harvesting Rapeseed) from 1860 depicts peasant women harvesting rapeseed in the idealized, poetic manner that distinguishes Breton's best work from the more naturalistic peasant painting of Millet. The 1860 date places this in Breton's most productive period, when he was producing the idealized peasant scenes that made him one of the most popular painters of the French Salon.

The Colza is important in the history of French peasant painting because it demonstrates the idealized, poetic manner that Breton brought to peasant subjects in contrast to the more naturalistic manner of Millet. Breton's idealized peasant women are poetic rather than realistic, and his treatment of the peasant subject shows the alternative to Millet's naturalism—a more poetic, more elevated treatment of peasant life that was enormously popular at the Salon but has been overshadowed by Millet's more naturalistic approach.

The Colza is Breton's idealized peasant poetry: peasant women harvesting rapeseed rendered in the poetic, elevated manner that contrasts with Millet's more naturalistic approach to peasant subjects. The 1860 painting shows the idealized alternative to Realist peasant painting that was enormously popular at the French Salon.