Jean Francois Millet

Millet was born in 1814, almost 200 years ago Millet was born in 1814, almost 200 years ago. He was born in a little town called Gruchy in a region of France called Normandy. That’s about 8 hours away on an airplane. Born in Normandy, France • Born October 4, 1814 • About 4,150 miles away from Chicago • A little over 8 hours in an airplane

Gruchy is a rural area. What does rural mean. …… Gruchy is a rural area. What does rural mean? ……. Millet was born to parents who were peasant farmers, and so he grew up working on his family’s farm. He loved working outside and loved the beautiful scenery and landscapes that he saw every day. He loved to sketch the local scenery and his dad noticed he was talented. He didn’t want him to grow up to be a farmer - they wanted more for him. So his dad sent him to work with a local artist, and eventually his town gave him a sum of money to study in Paris.

Once in Paris, Millet studied with Paul Delaroche Once in Paris, Millet studied with Paul Delaroche. Millet was 20 years old by this time, and he was not happy there. The two did not get along, and Delaroche often said that Millet was uncooperative and unteachable. Paul Delaroche

Millet also didn’t appreciate the things that Delaroche liked to paint Millet also didn’t appreciate the things that Delaroche liked to paint. Look at the people in this picture. What can you say about them? (they’re rich, royalty, kings and queens, pampered life). Remember where Millet was from? He was from rural France and loved the outdoors and the simple life.

So Millet left the teaching of Delaroche and started to work on his own style. He was no longer getting money from home, so he had to support himself. He payed for the rent on his art studio and for food by painting signs as well as people’s portraits for money. He finally got a painting excepted into the Salon in 1840, when he was 26 years old. Goodbye Delaroche!!

This painting, called “The Milkmaid” was one of his earliest paintings to become popular.

How is Millet’s painting different from the one Delaroche did? (peasants versus royalty, luxury versus simplicity, natural light vs. very staged lighting, outdoors vs. indoors, hard work vs. having things done for you)

Millet eventually moved to a small village in france called Barbizon Millet eventually moved to a small village in france called Barbizon. It was near the Forest Fontainbleau, which is kind of like a big Knoch Knolls. This is a picture of the entrance to his village. Millet loved this peaceful village and the simple life he found there. Here, Millet found other artists who were starting to like to paint the simple, rural scenes that Millet loved. He was married at this time, and he had 9 kids!! He was still not making much money, and his family often went hungry. Barbizon, France

This is a picture of the inside of his studio in Barbizon This is a picture of the inside of his studio in Barbizon. He spent 10 years there and produced his most famous paintings.

His farming background really gave him a new way of looking at farm life and the people who lived it. His friends started painting the same type of scenes and together they founded the “Barbizon School” - a new style of art that featured peasants as “heroes of the soil” instead of just poor people doing work no one else wanted to do. They idealized rural life and showed how important and special these people and their work really was. In time, this style of copying nature like a camera came to be called “realism.”

This is our picture for today, called “The Gleaners This is our picture for today, called “The Gleaners.” It is an oil painting, on display in an art museum in Paris today. Gleaners were the poorest of the poor, who were allowed to gather what little grain was left after the harvest was completed. Hopefully, they could find enough for one loaf of bread. Back in those days, when you harvested a field, you were supposed to leave what dropped on the ground so that the poorest people could come and find food. You were also supposed to leave the corners of your field unplowed so they could find grain there too. Can you tell what season it is (fall)? Time of day (late afternoon?)? Millet had a real love for the working class, those who were not wealthy. How does he show his feelings for these workers (they are bigger than the figures in the back, they are highlighted in the light, they are painted with detail, they are shown working hard). Notice that the harvesters are small, and in the background. Normally, they’d be more important than the lowly gleaners. Also, their big organized haystacks are in the back, much smaller than the individual pieces of wheat in the front.

Millet painted only 2 or 3 paintings a year, since he worked very slowly and carefully. He continued to have financial problems almost all his life, but his paintings are an important part of history and show us how important the rural lifestyle is. Jean Francois Millet 1814-1875