great paintings (details) by Millet
This post features detail views of paintings by the great 19th century french painter Jean-François Millet (1814–1875). Choose an image and click. It will expand and automatically scroll view, revealing details you did not notice before. Enjoy.
The Gleaners (1857) By millet
The gleaners is one of Millet’s famous works. Artists such as Pissarro and van Gogh often paraphrased him.
There are 3 gleaners in the painting below. They are gleaning; that is collecting leftovers from the fields after harvest. They are poor, they are bent over, collecting stray stalks of wheat. Yet their backs suggest strength and industry. There is no shame in hard work. Hard work should be repected. That is Millet’s message.
The Angelus (1857–1859)
The Angelus. 2 peasants are in a field with a basket of potatoes. They are bowing and saying the Angelus prayer. A bell from the church on the horizon rings and marks the end of the day’s work.
Potato Planters (1861)
Potato Planters. Potatos were considerd food fit only for animals. Yet 2 peasants are planting potatos to eat for themselves. Millet wrote “Why should the work of a potato planter be less noble than any other activity?”. He tries to bring nobility and dignity to the peasant’s work.
The peasant paintings
Jean-François Millet
Painter Jean-François Millet (1856–58)
Author (photographer): Nadar (1820–1910)
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His style
Jean-François Millet (1814 – 1875) was a French artist. He was famous for his paintings of peasant farmers (“peasant” paintings) which can be considered part of the Realist movement.
His style was to render the subject matter truthfully with no artificial decorations or embellishments. So his subject matter was taken from nature or contemporary life.
This is in contrast to Romanticism which emphasized emotion and individualism and artificially glorified the past and nature. The subject matter for a Romantist painting might be mythical such as the Roman gods, nymphs or characters in literature such as the plays of Shakespeare or Arthurian legends.
His story
Millet was the eldest child of Jean-Louis-Nicolas and Aimée-Henriette-Adélaïde Henry Millet, farmers in the village of Gruchy, Normandy. He helped his father farm and learned to mow, make hay, thresh, spread manure, plow and so on. This helped when he became famous for his “peasant” paintings.
In 1833 at the age of 19, his father sent him to Cherbourg a seaport in Normandy, northwest France. First he studied under painter Bon Du Mouchel then he studied under Théophile Langlois de Chèvreville.
In 1837 he moved to Paris and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts under Paul Delaroche. At that time The Salon was arguably the greatest art event in the West. In 1839 at the age of 25, he made his first submission. It was rejected. Millet returned to Cherbourg.
In the 1840s, he became interested in “peasant” paintings and for the first time submitted “peasant” paintings to the Salon of 1848 (age 34). In 1849, Millet left Paris to settle in Barbizon, a small hamlet in the forest of Fontainebleau. However, he continued to create “peasant” paintings.
His big breakthrough came at the Salon of 1864 (age 50), when “Shepherdess Guarding Her Flock” was exhibited.
Official recognition came in 1868 after a total of nine major paintings (including “The Gleaners”, “The Angelus” and “Potato Planters”) had been shown at the Second Paris International Exposition of 1867. In 1870 (age 56), Millet was elected to the Salon jury. His later years were marked by great financial success. He died in 1875 when he was 60.
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Notes
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