MILLET, Jean-François

In 1868, the artist was commissioned by his patron, F�lix Hartmann, for painting a series representing the four seasons. The Spring in the Mus�e d’Orsay, was the first of the series, the Summer (Buckwheat Harvest) is in Boston, the Autumn (Haystacks) in New York, and the Winter (The Faggot Gatherers) in the National Museum, Cardiff.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 10 minutes):

Vivaldi: Concerto in G minor RV 315 op. 8. No. 2 (Summer)

In 1868, the artist was commissioned by his patron, F�lix Hartmann, for painting a series representing the four seasons. The Spring in the Mus�e d’Orsay, was the first of the series, the Summer (Buckwheat Harvest) is in Boston, the Autumn (Haystacks) in New York, and the Winter (The Faggot Gatherers) in the National Museum, Cardiff.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 11 minutes):

Vivaldi: Concerto in F major RV 293 op. 8 No. 3 (Autumn)

This canvas, with its noble figure bathed in golden light, demonstrates the artist’s ability to idealize the people who worked the fields of the French countryside. With his simple farm tools and clothing, the peasant pushing a wheelbarrow becomes a timeless symbol of the dignity of labour and of a rapidly disappearing way of life.

In Millet’s hands, the coarse materiality of painting serves to express the symbolic. In this work, the physical sensation of weight implied by the huge brushwood bundles expresses the abstract idea of humility.

In 1868, the artist was commissioned by his patron, F�lix Hartmann, for painting a series representing the four seasons. The Spring in the Mus�e d’Orsay, was the first of the series, the Summer (Buckwheat Harvest) is in Boston, the Autumn (Haystacks) in New York, and the Winter (The Faggot Gatherers) in the National Museum, Cardiff.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 13 minutes):

Vivaldi: Concerto in E major RV 269 op. 8. No. 1 (Spring)

Millet met the group of painters at Barbizon in 1847, and here he found the most eloquent backdrop for his scenes of decent hard work and the life of poor farmers and labourers. Figures and compositions such as The Gleaners or the couple at prayer in The Angelus presented a passionately held socio-philisophical aesthetic in a pointed, almost confrontational manner; as time went by, they came to be seen worldwide as models for an agrarian art with ethical roots in the soil of home.

Millet met the group of painters at Barbizon in 1847, and here he found the most eloquent backdrop for his scenes of decent hard work and the life of poor farmers and labourers. Figures and compositions such as The Gleaners or the couple at prayer in The Angelus presented a passionately held socio-philisophical aesthetic in a pointed, almost confrontational manner; as time went by, they came to be seen worldwide as models for an agrarian art with ethical roots in the soil of home.

Millet met the group of painters at Barbizon in 1847, and here he found the most eloquent backdrop for his scenes of decent hard work and the life of poor farmers and labourers. Figures and compositions such as The Gleaners or the couple at prayer in The Angelus presented a passionately held socio-philisophical aesthetic in a pointed, almost confrontational manner; as time went by, they came to be seen worldwide as models for an agrarian art with ethical roots in the soil of home.

Millet’s early works were modelled on eighteenth-century pastorals, but during the 1840s the influence of Daumier encouraged him to paint in a more vigorous and sober style. His Winnower of 1848 set the seal on this new direction.

The painting was exhibited at the Salon of 1848.

After 1848, Millet devoted himself to genre scenes glorifying the family life of the hard-working farmer population, whom he observed in the region of Barbizon. The thematic simplicity of these pictures does not belong to the anecdotal vein of genre painting. Millet paints the grandeur and dignity of peasants with thick, expressive and liberal brushwork.

The painting was exhibited at the Salon of 1850.

In 1868, the artist was commissioned by his patron, F�lix Hartmann, for painting a series representing the four seasons. The Spring in the Mus�e d’Orsay, was the first of the series, the Summer (Buckwheat Harvest) is in Boston, the Autumn (Haystacks) in New York, and the Winter (The Faggot Gatherers) in the National Museum, Cardiff.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 11 minutes):

Vivaldi: Concerto in F minor RV 297 op. 8 No. 4 (Winter)