Jean-François Millet (; October 4, 1814 – January 20, 1875) was a French artist and one of the founders of the Barbizon school in rural France.
All these motifs would return in his later art. In 1833 his father sent him to Cherbourg to study with a portrait painter named Bon Du Mouchel.
By 1835 he was studying with Théophile Langlois de Chèvreville, a pupil of Baron Gros, in Cherbourg.
A stipend provided by Langlois and others enabled Millet to move to Paris in 1837, where he studied at the École des Beaux-Arts with Paul Delaroche.
In 1839 his scholarship was terminated, and his first submission to the Salon, Saint Anne Instructing the Virgin, was rejected by the jury. ===Paris=== After his first painting, a portrait, was accepted at the Salon of 1840, Millet returned to Cherbourg to begin a career as a portrait painter.
In 1839 his scholarship was terminated, and his first submission to the Salon, Saint Anne Instructing the Virgin, was rejected by the jury. ===Paris=== After his first painting, a portrait, was accepted at the Salon of 1840, Millet returned to Cherbourg to begin a career as a portrait painter.
"Une enseigne de vétérinaire cherbourgeois peinte par Jean-François Millet en 1841", in Bulletin de la Société française d'histoire de la médecine et des sciences vétérinaires, n° 11, 2011, p. 61–75. Pollock, Griselda.
After rejections at the Salon of 1843 and Pauline's death by consumption in April 1844, Millet returned again to Cherbourg.
After rejections at the Salon of 1843 and Pauline's death by consumption in April 1844, Millet returned again to Cherbourg.
In 1845 Millet moved to Le Havre with Catherine Lemaire, whom he would marry in a civil ceremony in 1853; they would have nine children and remain together for the rest of Millet's life.
In 1847 his first Salon success came with the exhibition of a painting Oedipus Taken down from the Tree, and in 1848 his Winnower was bought by the government. The Captivity of the Jews in Babylon, Millet's most ambitious work at the time, was unveiled at the Salon of 1848, but was scorned by art critics and the public alike.
In 1847 his first Salon success came with the exhibition of a painting Oedipus Taken down from the Tree, and in 1848 his Winnower was bought by the government. The Captivity of the Jews in Babylon, Millet's most ambitious work at the time, was unveiled at the Salon of 1848, but was scorned by art critics and the public alike.
It is now believed that Millet reused the canvas when materials were in short supply during the Franco-Prussian War. ===Barbizon=== In 1849, Millet painted Harvesters, a commission for the state.
In June of that year, he settled in Barbizon with Catherine and their children. In 1850 Millet entered into an arrangement with Sensier, who provided the artist with materials and money in return for drawings and paintings, while Millet simultaneously was free to continue selling work to other buyers as well.
At that year's Salon, he exhibited Haymakers and The Sower, his first major masterpiece and the earliest of the iconic trio of paintings that would include The Gleaners and The Angelus. From 1850 to 1853, Millet worked on Harvesters Resting (Ruth and Boaz), a painting he would consider his most important, and on which he worked the longest.
In 1845 Millet moved to Le Havre with Catherine Lemaire, whom he would marry in a civil ceremony in 1853; they would have nine children and remain together for the rest of Millet's life.
At that year's Salon, he exhibited Haymakers and The Sower, his first major masterpiece and the earliest of the iconic trio of paintings that would include The Gleaners and The Angelus. From 1850 to 1853, Millet worked on Harvesters Resting (Ruth and Boaz), a painting he would consider his most important, and on which he worked the longest.
It was the only painting he ever dated, and was the first work to garner him official recognition, a second-class medal at the 1853 salon. In the mid-1850s, Millet produced a small number of etchings of peasant subjects, such as Man with a Wheelbarrow (1855) and Woman Carding Wool (1855–1857). ====The Gleaners==== This is one of the most well known of Millet's paintings, The Gleaners (1857).
In 1857, he submitted the painting The Gleaners to the Salon to an unenthusiastic, even hostile, public. (Earlier versions include a vertical composition painted in 1854, an etching of 1855–56 which directly presaged the horizontal format of the painting now in the Musée d'Orsay.) A warm golden light suggests something sacred and eternal in this daily scene where the struggle to survive takes place.
In 1857, he submitted the painting The Gleaners to the Salon to an unenthusiastic, even hostile, public. (Earlier versions include a vertical composition painted in 1854, an etching of 1855–56 which directly presaged the horizontal format of the painting now in the Musée d'Orsay.) A warm golden light suggests something sacred and eternal in this daily scene where the struggle to survive takes place.
In 1857, he submitted the painting The Gleaners to the Salon to an unenthusiastic, even hostile, public. (Earlier versions include a vertical composition painted in 1854, an etching of 1855–56 which directly presaged the horizontal format of the painting now in the Musée d'Orsay.) A warm golden light suggests something sacred and eternal in this daily scene where the struggle to survive takes place.
It was completed during the summer of 1857.
Millet added a steeple and changed the initial title of the work, Prayer for the Potato Crop to The Angelus when the purchaser failed to take possession of it in 1859.
Displayed to the public for the first time in 1865, the painting changed hands several times, increasing only modestly in value, since some considered the artist's political sympathies suspect.
At the beginning of the decade, he contracted to paint 25 works in return for a monthly stipend for the next three years and in 1865, another patron, Emile Gavet, began commissioning pastels for a collection that would eventually include 90 works.
In 1867, the Exposition Universelle hosted a major showing of his work, with the Gleaners, Angelus, and Potato Planters among the paintings exhibited.
In 1984, scientists at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston x-rayed Millet's 1870 painting The Young Shepherdess looking for minor changes, and discovered that it was painted over Captivity.
The following year, Frédéric Hartmann commissioned Four Seasons for 25,000 francs, and Millet was named Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur. In 1870, Millet was elected to the Salon jury.
Later that year, he and his family fled the Franco-Prussian War, moving to Cherbourg and Gréville, and did not return to Barbizon until late in 1871.
Jean-François Millet (; October 4, 1814 – January 20, 1875) was a French artist and one of the founders of the Barbizon school in rural France.
On January 3, 1875, he married Catherine in a religious ceremony.
Millet died on January 20, 1875. ==Legacy== Millet was an important source of inspiration for Vincent van Gogh, particularly during his early period.
Monographie de reference, Millet raconté par lui-même – 3 volumes – Paris 1921 Murphy, Alexandra R.
Catalogue raisonné Jean-François Millet en 2 volumes – Paris 1971 / 1973 Lepoittevin, Lucien.
Catalogue raisonné Jean-François Millet en 2 volumes – Paris 1971 / 1973 Lepoittevin, Lucien.
London: Oresko, 1977.
In 1984, scientists at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston x-rayed Millet's 1870 painting The Young Shepherdess looking for minor changes, and discovered that it was painted over Captivity.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1984.
Jean François Millet : Images et symboles, Éditions Isoète Cherbourg 1990.
Hart Publishing, 2001.
Jean François Millet (Au delà de l'Angélus) – Ed de Monza – 2002 – () Lepoittevin, Lucien.
"Le Viquet – Retour sur les premiers pas : un Millet inconnu" – N° 139 Paques 2003.
London: Laurence King Publishing, 2009.
Summer/Fall 2009 (Vol.
"Une enseigne de vétérinaire cherbourgeois peinte par Jean-François Millet en 1841", in Bulletin de la Société française d'histoire de la médecine et des sciences vétérinaires, n° 11, 2011, p. 61–75. Pollock, Griselda.
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