Paul Peel (1860-1892) was born in London, Ontario. He would go on to study at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts from 1877-1880, where he would learn under Thomas Eakins. Many graduates from the Pennsylvania Academy pursued advanced studies in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux-arts, and Peel was no exception. He would leave for Paris in 1880, and by 1881 going forward many summers were spent in the Brittany region of France, more specifically in Pont-Aven. Artists and students would scatter across the region in the summertime to escape Paris’ extreme heat in search of cooler environments and picturesque locations that would provide suitable pictorial motifs. Americans were the first foreign artists to “discover” this area and had helped create these art colonies in the 1870s. Peel would have been well aware of this area dating back to this time at the Pennsylvania Academy through his instructors and fellow students.
About the Artist