Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Millet was born in 1814 in the hamlet of Gruchy in the parish of Gr\u00e9ville-Hague, on the north coast of Normandy\u2019s Cotentin Peninsula. Brought up in a farming family, he worked on the land as a boy. He left his birthplace at the age of 20 to train as a painter in Cherbourg. He then joined Paul Delaroche\u2019s Paris studio. In 1849, he settled in Barbizon, a village south of Paris, where he became a leading exponent of the Barbizon School, alongside Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, Charles-Fran\u00e7ois Daubigny and Th\u00e9odore Rousseau. He only returned to the village of his birth on rare occasions, but his works reveal the profound influence the Cotentin had on his palette.<\/p>\n
To understand this major artist\u2019s output, it is very much worth making the journey to the house where he was born in Gr\u00e9ville-Hague. It makes for a memorable visit, located in unspoilt, wild countryside by the sea. On the visitor trail through the house of his birth you can see original works, ethnographical objects and audio-visual displays dedicated to his significant artistic contributions. One section focuses on the unbelievable epic of our artist\u2019s most famous work, L\u2019Ang\u00e9lus<\/em>. As to the graphic arts room, it presents a dozen original drawings from the 59 Millet works owned by the d\u00e9partement (French county) of La Manche.<\/p>\n Although he always worked on his paintings in a studio, not outdoors, nevertheless Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Millet did execute many preparatory drawings outside. Foreshadowing this painting sur le vif favoured by the Impressionists, he would make rapid sketches and drawings on sheets of paper, in sketchbooks, on envelopes even, if to hand.<\/p>\n Renowned as a painter of the countryside and peasant farmers (most famously, Les glaneuses<\/em>), towards the end of his life, Millet explored the depiction of variations in light, notably on his occasional return to Normandy. So, he can be said to have contributed to the beginnings of Impressionism, as can be seen in his work \u00c9glise de Gr\u00e9ville<\/em>, painted in the very village of his birth.<\/p>\n The Mus\u00e9e Thomas Henry<\/a> in Cherbourg boasts the largest collection of works by Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Millet of any French region, just behind the holdings of the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay<\/a> in Paris. The Portrait de Pauline Ono<\/em> is one of the most famous pieces in the Cherbourg collection and reflects the strong bonds between the artist and the Ono family, major collectors of this master\u2019s works.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Millet was born in 1814 in the hamlet of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7007,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"slider_une":[],"regions":[133],"coups_coeur":[],"inspiration-type":[],"label":[],"categories-agenda":[],"class_list":["post-5139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-caen-the-cotentin","tag-museums-sites","regions-normandy"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n