JEAN-FRANÇOIS MILLET - El Ángelus
Good day everyone - There have been a few comments going back and forth about the paintings I showcased recently created by when I wrote a post on Shapes and patterns: Comparing Tendai Makufa and Philippe de Kraan. In the post I was talking about the patterns in the paintings but what caught the viewers' eyes was that the two of the paintings featured couples - and Philippe's in particular caught the eye of Maureen Donnellon who said: for some strange reason the painting of the two people reminded me of the Millet paintings which were on the walls of my boarding school classroom at Sacred Heart College in Ballarat in 1963 “The Angelus” and “The Gleaners”. You can read Maureen's full comments here.
And here is the first of the Millet paintings Maureen is referring to.
The Angelus (French: L'Angélus) is an oil painting by French painter Jean-François Millet, completed between 1857 and 1859.
The painting depicts two peasants bowing in a field over a basket of potatoes to say a prayer, the Angelus, that together with the ringing of the bell from the church on the horizon marks the end of a day's work.
Millet was commissioned by the American would-be painter and art collector Thomas Gold Appleton, who never came to collect it. The painting is famous today for driving the prices for artworks of the Barbizon school up to record amounts in the late 19th century.1
And you might like to watch this wonderful 2 minute video on the L'Angélus from the Musée d'Orsay (Paris). The Speakers are: Drs. Beth Harris and Steven Zucker. For more art history videos, visit Smarthistory.org. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
In a couple of days I will also show you The Gleaners by Millet.
Credit
1. en.wikipedia.org