The artist, with full title Victor Emmanuel Marie Auguste Comte de la Villéon, was one of the last great French Impressionists. He is described in his artistic character as the painter of harmony, balance, quiet joy and serenity.

De La Villéon came from an old Breton noble family. In 1880 he started at the Academie Julian in Paris, where he initially paid homage to the style of painting, École de Barbizon. But soon he tended to Impressionism in the manner of Van Gogh and Seurat and debuted at the Salon des Independants in 1888 with great success. His works have been shown in the following Salon Nationale des Beaux-Arts and the Salon d'Automne in 1903. Today, his birthplace Fougeres and the local museum Emmanuel de la Villéon is an in...