Study for Mystical Brittany

This drawing is a study for an enormous (25 by 68 feet) mural titled Mystical Brittany that adorned the stairway of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nantes. It is one of two murals Hippolyte Dominique Berteaux was asked to produce; Brittany at Work: The Threshing of Grain is still on view in the museum, but Mystical Brittany was severely damaged and is awaiting restoration. Mystical Brittany depicts a Pardon, an ancient religious ceremony and heralded annual custom in the life of the people of Brittany. On the feast day of the patron saint of the local church, community members donned traditional costumes and processed to a site dedicated to the saint. There they prayed and received remission for their sins, hence the name Pardon.