Description:

Jean-Francois Millet
French, (1814-1875)
La Bouillie, Cooling the Porridge, 1861
etching on chine colle
Signed and dated in the plate lower left.

Biography from the Archives of askART: Jean Francois Millet was what Gustave Courbet pretended to be: the son of peasants. Born in 1814, at Gruchy near Cherbourg, he spent most of his life in rural France. He received his first instruction in art from Langlois at Cherbourg in 1832. His aptitude was so obvious that he was granted a pension by the Municipal Council to enable him to study art in Paris.

In 1837, he joined the Parisian studio of Delaroche where Diaz and Rousseau were his fellow pupils. He first exhibited at the Salon in 1840. He was able to perceive the land and the labor it exacted from men as substance and process, not as a sight for city-dwelling impressionists on an outing. For some time he earned a living painting portraits in Cherbourg where he had returned. In 1845 he was in Paris once more; he devoted himself entirely to peasant and figure painting, at which he worked solely from memory.

Though he lived to see himself the most famous of the painters who worked at Barbizon, during much of his life he was on the verge of poverty. There were times when Millet and his wife had nothing to eat, but they did make sure that their children did not suffer. As a result of his privation he was subject all his life to fearful headaches and pains in his eyes. But he never complained.

Yet Millet painted one of the most popular pictures of the 19th century. Even his most famous canvas he had difficulty selling, but once sold, its rise in value was fantastic. But Millet's faults were made especially conspicuous by the trends of more modern painting. He was a powerful draftsman, but he was indifferent to color; he was a touching poet, but he often became sentimental; he was an admirable humanitarian, but he rarely conveyed his feelings with any charm or beauty of brushwork. Consequently his canvases sank in critical esteem to a point below their real worth. He died at Barbizon surrounded by the life and people he had loved.

Written and submitted by Jean Ershler Schatz, artist and researcher from Laguna Woods, California

Sources include:
Robert Hughes in Time Magazine, February 23, 1976
Masterpieces of Art: Catalogue of the New York World's Fair 1940

  • Provenance: Artist Jean Francois Millet was an important French painter of the 19th century, best known for his depictions of peasants at work on the land. By the time he was 19, Millet was studying art in Cherbourg and Paris. Jean Francois Millet's painting The Milkmaid, created in 1844, was a breakthrough piece, and he also achieved recognition at the Salon in 1848 with The Winnower. His main influences came from 17th-century Dutch painters, and it's been said that as an artist, Jean Francois Millet himself was influential on Van Gogh's early painting style.Jean Francois Millet's artwork is exhibited in many important galleries, including The Louvre, Paris, The Museum of Fine Art, Boston, and The National Gallery, London. Expand your classic art collection with memorable figural drawings for sale at online galleries and auctions.
  • Dimensions: 6 3/4"H x 5"W (plate), 15"H x 12"W (frame)
  • Medium: etching on chine colle

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August 31, 2023 1:00 PM EDT
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