Breton Peasants at a Wayside Cross
Date1890
Artist
Howard Pyle
(American illustrator, 1853–1911)
Illustration CitationFrontispiece for "The Pardon of St. Anne D'Auray," by William Perry Northrup, in Scribner's Magazine, December 1889
MediumOil on illustration board
Dimensions23 5/8 x 17 5/8 in. (60 x 44.8 cm)
frame: 38 × 21 5/8 in. (96.5 × 54.9 cm)
frame: 38 × 21 5/8 in. (96.5 × 54.9 cm)
Credit LineMuseum Purchase, 1915
Object number1915-13
On View
Not on viewClassificationsPAINTING
Label TextHoward Pyle provided the frontispiece for this issue of Scribner's Magazine, in which William Perry Northrup describes the traditional pilgrimage to a shrine dedicated to Brittany's patron, Saint Anne, a religious ritual that included nightly processions honoring the dead. Here, two women and a child in traditional Breton costume, terrified by a thunder-storm, seek divine protection at a monolith decorated with a Celtic cross.
