THE ARTIST Jean-Francois Millet (1814-1875) French Realist Painter
WHERE IN THE WORLD? France 1814-1870
France was in turmoil during Millet’s lifetime. In 1814, the year of Millet’s birth, Louis XVIII ruled France as the head of a constitutional monarchy. Upon his death, his brother, Charles X took over and attempted to gain much greater power over the people, strengthening his authority as monarch by abolishing the freedom of the press, and through other means. Revolts in 1830 caused him to flee the country and Louis Philippe took control. Louis Philippe was viewed as indifferent to the needs of society. Rising food costs and lack of jobs resulted, leading to the Revolution of 1848. That year a presidential election was held and Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte won. He would increase industry, expand railways, improve banking, and rebuild the city of Paris. He quickly abolished the “presidency” and unlawfully declared himself Emperor Napoleon III. Following in the footsteps of his uncle, Napoleon I, he become the sole ruler of France. Paris, France was the art center of the culture. The Royal Academy of Painting had been established and overseen by previous monarchs for over two centuries. It held a monopoly over the kind of art that was acceptable. The importance of the School of Barbizon (1830- 1870), was that it was not established by kings, but by individual artists, who came together because of their similar ideas about what art should look like. The school, named for the village at the edge of the Forest of Fontainebleau, promoted realism with a focus on landscapes. Artists promoted painting with loose brush strokes. These new ideas would lead to a movement called Impressionism, which inspired the modern art movement of the early 1900s.
While living in the Norman village of Gruncy as a young man, Millet dreamed of escaping the hard life of farmers. He studied art in several of the best French art institutions. His early studies of a variety of subjects were not well received until he exhibited The Grain Sifter in the non-juried Salon of 1848. This was his earliest painting of the agricultural worker as a subject. It was met with favorable reaction from the critics. His paintings at that time showed strong contrasts between light and shadow. Millet worked from memory, from studies of landscapes, and from models in his studio. Millet did not express any political interest and took no active part in the French Revolution of 1848. Despite this fact, the socialists claimed that his art promoted their ideals of the hard worker within a socialist run society. At the School of Barbizon, Millet devoted his attention to subjects from rural life and trained other artists to paint in what developed as the Barbizon style. Figures set within landscapes gave the farmer dignity, according to Millet. He often portrayed figures at the end of the workday, when a setting sun was shown by long shadows across his canvases. Millet used a palette of blue, red, earth colors, black and white. He applied the paint thickly in places, dragging the loaded brush across the textured canvas, to create a dry brush effect.
A genre painting is a domestic scene that includes the daily activities of people. Millet’s figures were often posed in his studio, where he painted. He worked from these observations as well as painted studies taken while outdoors. Create a genre painting. It should include at least one figure within an outdoor landscape or within an interior. Paint a value study, followed by glazing (shown in Lesson 1 of this unit) to complete your painting.
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