“It is the treating of the commonplace with the feelings of the sublime that gives to art its true power.” ~Jean-Francois Millet
Jean-François Millet (pronunciation) was a French Realist painter, known best for his artworks that featured peasants and farmers in the 19th century.
Millet was born in Paris on October 4, 1814, to a family of farmers. When he was six, his family moved to the village of Gréville-Hague (pronunciation) in Normandy, and there he spent most of his childhood. Though he tutored under two priests who taught him languages and literature, Millet spent most of his days working as a farmer, which greatly influenced his artwork in the future.
In 1833, Millet’s father sent him to study with a portrait painter. A little while later he was able to return to Paris and study at the École des Beaux-Arts (pronunciation). However, he found the instruction there stifling and left soon after.
After one of his portrait paintings was accepted at the Paris Salon, Millet took up portrait painting as a career. He wasn’t particularly happy with this work, but it helped him to perfect his craft. It wasn’t until the 1850’s that he finally found his footing with Realism.
Drawing from his own experiences as a farmer, he began to paint the working class, namely peasants and farmers, and their everyday life. His paintings were defined by their dark, earthy colors that accentuated the nitty-gritty details of the working class life, and his use of sharply contrasting light and dark.
Millet spent most of his adult life in Barbizon, France, where he and other artist friends worked together to found an art school. In 1853 he married Catherine Lemaire, his second wife after his first wife’s untimely death, and they remained together until Millet’s death in 1875.
Millet’s work gained a great deal of recognition in his lifetime. He exhibited at the Salon and regularly took commissions from both patrons and the government. Today he is remembered as one of the most important Realist painters of the 19th century.
Jean-Francois Millet
Jean-François Millet: Peasant and PainterThe Drawings of Jean François Millet: With Fifty Facsimile Reproductions of the Master’s Work (Classic Reprint)
