Girl with a garland of wild flowers (1892) By : Virginie Demont-Breton (1859-1935) French Naturalist artist.

Virginie Demont-Breton was a French naturalist artist born in Courrières, Pas-de-Calais, France, on September 26, 1859. She was the daughter of the painter Jules Breton, and her mother, Élodie de Vigne, was a pianist and composer. Virginie Demont-Breton was one of five children and grew up in a creative and artistic environment.

She started her artistic career at a young age and received training from her father, who was a famous painter of rural life in Brittany. Later, she enrolled in the Académie Julian in Paris, where she studied under the guidance of Jules Lefebvre and Gustave Boulanger.

Demont-Breton was best known for her realistic and detailed depictions of rural life, landscapes, and seascapes. She often painted scenes of peasants at work or of women and children in natural settings. Her paintings were highly acclaimed and won her many awards, including the Gold Medal at the Paris Salon in 1896.

Throughout her career, Demont-Breton exhibited her work at numerous exhibitions in France and abroad, including the Royal Academy in London and the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Her works can be found in several museums, including the Musée d'Orsay in Paris and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Virginie Demont-Breton died on January 12, 1935, in Le Mesnil-le-Roi, France, at the age of 75. Her legacy lives on in her impressive body of work, which continues to inspire artists and art lovers around the world.