Le pain bénit

Léon Henri Antoine Loire, 1821-1898
Paris (France) 1821 - Paris (France) 1898
Le pain bénit 1859
Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France


Dagnan-Bouveret, Pascal-Adolphe-Jean
(January 7, 1852 - July 3rd, 1929)
Le Pain Bénit 1885
Musée d'Orsay, Paris

After an intense mytical experience, Dagnan-Bouveret painted little but religious subjects.

It is only later in his career, first in the mid 1880s and then more dramatically in the 1890s, that Dagnan turned to religious themes.

These became increasingly more visionary and supernatural during the early years of the 20th century.

Spiritual themes reflected Dagnan's determined turn toward religious revivalism, a genre that obsessed many painters in the 1890s.

It also reflected the powerful influence of his wife whose own devout Catholicism was influential in moving Dagnan toward some of his religious themes.

Dagnan's spiritual paintings found strong support in the atmosphere of the Catholic Revival in France