Millet and the French peasant : the artist as social historian

Abstract

The intention of this thesis is to bring together both art and social history in order to achieve a greater understanding of Millet and the world which he painted. New evidence on the artist is hard to come by but nineteenth century French rural history is an on-going source of study which art historians cannot afford to ignore. The thesis is divided into two sections, each of which has distinctive aims but which are ultimately linked in the conclusion. The first concentrates on a survey of the artist's life, combining specific and aften well-known facts with more general research on France. The intention is to reinterpret Millet's life; to establish the strength of his peasant background and the hold which it retained upon him throughout his life. The second section leads on from this by discussing a broad cross-section of the artist's work in terms of recent historical study. Whilst the emphasis is on Millet's pictures of the peasantry, all his work can be seen in similar terms. It is divided into historical rather than pictorial categories with the aim of establishing the validity of the work as social history evidence. As the conclusion states, this method of studying the artist establishes the importance of Millet- as the one, accurate portrayer of rural life of the period, whose sympathies and understanding lay with the peasantry and influenced his whole art.