A Typical Breton.
A Bretonne.
It was in this year (1878) that he made some extraordinarily rapid sketches in colour with the brush direct, without a touch of the pencil or anything to guide him on the paper. Few sketches of this kind exist, excepting rough notes in books not intended for publication. In the evening the figures in the streets and at the inns had to be noted down.
The next day, which Caldecott called "a rest," was devoted to visiting two farms in the neighbourhood, seeing as much as possible of the interiors of the old houses near Carhaix, with their carved bedsteads, cabinets and clocks, old brasswork and embroideries. It was a rather anxious time for his travelling companion, for there was no restraining Caldecott with such material before him, and he was overworked.
It was in this district that he made one of his most successful sketches; a typical Breton (p. [177]), in ancient costume with long hair and knee breeches; a figure rarely met with in these days.
In the south-west corner of Brittany, a few miles south of Quimperlé, at a point where the river spreads out into a narrow estuary four miles from the sea, is the primitive little village called appropriately Pont Aven.