Jules Bastien was born on 1 November 1848 in Damvillers, in the Meuse district of north-eastern France. After he began studies at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1868, he added his mother's maiden name 'Lepage' to his surname to become known as 'Bastien-Lepage'. He was severely wounded serving in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. His first submission to the Salon in 1870 went unnoticed, but he received a third-class medal for a portrait in 1874. Disappointed by his failure to win the Prix de Rome in 1875 and 1876, Bastien-Lepage departed from academic subjects to paint the peasants of his home area in a naturalistic manner. The realism of his entry Les Foines [Haymakers] attracted much notice at the Salon of 1878, and a companion painting Saison d'Octobre: récolte des pommes de terre [October: Potato harvest], was submitted the next year, and received popular acclaim. He was then awarded the Legion of Honour in recognition of his success. Bastien-Lepage produced numerous genre scenes in the years that remained of his short life. He attracted followers both in France and in Great Britain, which he visited frequently. Bastien-Lepage died in Paris on 10 December 1884.