The Butter Merchant or Sharing the Butter, Breton Interior

Van den Anker came to France in 1856 with a view to broadening his future prospects. Around 1866, he chose to embark on an artistic career, and Brittany became his subject of choice. He arrived in Pont-Aven in 1869 and found lodgings at the Pension Gloanec. When Wylie died in 1877, he established his studio on the first floor of the Manoir de Lezaven, where he remained until 1883. The composition of this work is characteristic of the artist’s Breton paintings. It depicts a highly realistic interior with much ethnographic value in the detailed study of the figures, accessories and furniture. The skilled rendering of fabrics and materials and the particular attention paid to light fall within the grand tradition of the Dutch masters