Max Breu

Barnyard Scene

Max Breu, 1915-1942

Barnyard Scene

This painting is an early work by the short-lived German artist, Max Breu. Breu must have been academically trained in the conservative tradition because, even though he lived during the twentieth century, his work shows no trace at all of Modernism. The technical mastery shown by the quality of his painting here makes it clear that he had assimilated the styles of the past. It appears that Breu was most heavily influenced by Paulus Potter (1625-54), a Dutch painter who pioneered the depiction of animals as the sole subject of a painting. Breu, like Potter before him, shows a strong sympathy with the lives of animals. In this barnyard scene, the sheep have gathered before a feeding trough, along with two chickens. The harmony among them all might be seen as Breu’s regard for the natural contentment of animals. The light falls upon the little group, almost as if the artist is recalling a scene of the nativity of the Christ child, at which the sheep and other animals gathered to participate in the glorious birth. The smallness of the painting echoes the practice of earlier artists such as Potter, who emphasized the humble, down-to-earth subject of a barnyard by a keeping their paintings to a modest size. How Breu’s art might have developed cannot be known; he died in 1941 at the age of 26.

This painting was conserved by Barry Bauman Conservation in 2017 with funds donated by Dorothy Kelley.

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