LONDON.- The first UK exhibition in nearly 50 years dedicated to Jean-François Millet (1814–1875) opened at the National Gallery.

An outstanding loan from the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, of L’Angélus (1859) is the centrepiece of Millet: Life on the Land which presents around 15 paintings and drawings by the French artist, mostly coming from British public collections, and including the National Gallery’s The Winnower (about 1847‒8).

The show coincides with the 150th anniversary of Millet’s death. When he passed away in 1875 his works were well known in the UK and beginning to be eagerly collected by an enthusiastic group of British collectors, resulting in a significant body of his work in UK public collections.

The exhibition ranges from the late 1840s, Millet’s last years in Paris through to his images of workers on the land during the 1850s following his move to the village of Barbizon in the Fontainebleau Forest in 1849. There he became one of the most significant painters associated with the 19th-century Barbizon school*.

'Millet: Life on the Land' shows the exceptional technique of Millet, particularly as a prolific and accomplished draughtsman, and shows how he portrayed figures of rural workers with great nobility and grandeur, conferring them a status usually reserved for figures from history.

The first section of the exhibition focuses on paintings and drawings about woodcutting and sowing (including 'The Sower', 1847–8, National Museum, Cardiff; 'A Man ploughing and another sowing', 1849–52, Ashmolean Museum; 'Wood choppers', about 1850, National Galleries of Scotland; 'The Wood Sawyers', 1850–2, Victoria and Albert Museum). At that time many rural workers lived a precarious existence, especially the woodcutters who owned no land of their own.

'The Winnower', which was acquired by the National Gallery in 1978, has also been included in this section. It is one of Millet’s first paintings to explore the theme of rural labour. It was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1848 where it was well received. However, later works exhibited at the Salon produced an extreme reaction. While Millet’s own political convictions are unclear, many critics appropriated his work for their own progressive agenda while others labelled him as subversive. Yet there is no doubt that he had sympathy with the workers around him and wrote in 1851 of the ‘human side’ that touched him most.

'L’Angélus' (1859) from the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, is being presented at the centre of the exhibition. In this painting a man and a woman are reciting the Angelus, a prayer which commemorates the annunciation made to Mary by the angel Gabriel. It is traditionally cited at morning, noon and evening, when it marks the end of the working day. The two quiet figures are silhouetted against land and sky; the painting exudes a profound sense of meditation and introspection, underscored by a beauty of light. Never collected by its original commissioner, venerated by Salvador Dalí, it followed an extraordinary journey through several collections and sales which all contributed to turning it into a world-famous icon in the 20th century.

The exhibition continues with a group of paintings and drawing focusing on women at work (including 'The Goose Girl', 1854‒6, National Museum Cardiff; 'The Milkmaid', about 1853, The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham). Two drawings of shepherdesses from the Cooper Gallery (Barnsley Museums - BMBC) and the Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge) are being shown together for the first time.

The Last section of 'Millet: Life on the Land' focuses on wood gathering (including 'The Faggot Gatherers', 1850‒55, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh). Gathering sticks of wood to be used as fuel for a fire was the preserve of the most vulnerable. Often left to older women in the communities, as with gleaning, it was an activity which was heavily regulated by the authorities at the time.

Sarah Herring, Associate Curator of Post 1800 Paintings, says ‘Millet endowed rural labourers with dignity and nobility, depicting them in drawings and paintings with empathy and compassion.’

National Gallery Director, Sir Gabriele Finaldi, says ‘The exceptional loan of 'L’Angélus', Millet’s most celebrated work, will focus the public’s attention on this fascinating artist – a painter of rural life, who was sometimes accused of being a dangerous anarchist. Salvador Dalí’s obsession with 'L’Angélus' made it even more famous.’

*Barbizon school

The Barbizon school of painters were part of an art movement toward Realism in art, which arose in the context of the dominant Romantic Movement of the time. The Barbizon school was active roughly from 1830 through 1870. It takes its name from the village of Barbizon, France, on the edge of the Forest of Fontainebleau, where many of the artists gathered. Most of their works were landscape painting, but several of them also painted landscapes with farmworkers, and genre scenes of village life. Some of the most prominent features of this school are its tonal qualities, colour, loose brushwork, and softness of form.

The leaders of the Barbizon school were: Théodore Rousseau, Charles-François Daubigny, Jules Dupré, Constant Troyon, Charles Jacque, and Narcisse Virgilio Díaz. Jean-François Millet lived in Barbizon from 1849, but his interest in figures with a landscape backdrop sets him rather apart from the others.