Eugène François FINES
 (Paris, 1826 – ?, 1901)

 Peasant woman from San-Germano and her child

 Oil on canvas
 Signed lower right
 55.5 x 38 cm

 FINES entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, with Auguste HESSE and Léon COGNIET as his teachers. He exhibited at the Paris Salon from 1859 to 1882, at the Lyon Salon from 1864 to 1887, at the Rouen Salon from 1862 to 1897, at the Toulouse Salon from 1865 to 1887, at the Le Havre Salon in 1868 and 1882…
 Our painting could also be a reduced-size replica of the painting by FINES exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1863 (no. 698) and entitled Italian Peasant Woman and Her Child and which was probably re-exhibited in 1868 at the Salon du Havre (no. 468) with the more precise title Peasant Woman of San Germano and Her Child.

 FINES' career is best known for his peasant scenes, most often inspired by Brittany and more rarely by Italy in the 1860s, as in our painting.

 This work is part of the Romantic movement and should in particular be compared with the work of his contemporary Ernest HEBERT (1817-1908) who produced similar works between 1855 and 1860, which were very successful, such as the paintings exhibited at the Musée Hebert and the Musée d'Orsay, entitled Les Filles d'Alvito (1855) and Les Cervarolles (1859) respectively.