Wedding in Quimper

Boudin spent part of 1857 inland in Brittany, on the banks of the Odet around Quimper, painting farms, the river and the crowds that gathered for a pardon, the local religious processions where a whole parish turned out in costume. A wedding drew the same crowd. Here the bridal party is still on the move, a line of figures strung between the houses, with the white of the Breton headdresses and a single red costume doing most of the work. It is a study made on the spot, on a panel about 35 centimetres wide, and it left Brittany for more than a century. The museum's friends' association bought it back at auction in 2011 and gave it to Quimper. Look at the sky and you can see how fast he went, because in places the bare wood of the panel is still showing through the paint.