Lady with Bread

Working in oils, pastels, and watercolor, Victor Gilbert usually made lush, Belle Époque pictures featuring fashionable women and girls out and about in Paris. He is best known for his market scenes, especially flower markets. Gilbert also painted views of the cliffs and harbors of Normandy. This strain of activity may have given rise to the present image of a plain-clothed woman at work in a modest interior, something uncharacteristic for Gilbert. The watercolor strongly echoes the work of Realist artists studying provincial life in France.