=Questions to arouse interest.= In what attitude are these peasants
standing? What have they been doing? With what have they been working?
What can you see in the background? From what direction does the light
come? What time of day do you think it is? in what country? Why have
they stopped their work? Who of you can tell what the Angelus is? What
feeling does this picture give you—one of sadness, peace, quiet, noise
prosperity, poverty, or happiness?
=Original Picture=: Collection Chauchard, Paris.
=Artist=: Jean François Millet (mē´lĕ).
=Birthplace=: Gruchy, France.
=Dates=: Born, 1814; died, 1875.
=The story of the picture.= Although our print is only black and white,
we are made to feel the brightness of the sunset in this picture. The
horizon, veiled in a haze, shows the church tower of the distant village
faintly silhouetted against the sky, while the sinking sun casts its
long shadows across the field. But our eyes do not dwell long on sky,
church, or field, for the two figures draw our gaze. The bright rays
from the setting sun fall directly upon the woman, who faces the west;
the man, turning toward her, is partly in shadow.
No doubt these two peasants have been working in the fields, the man
digging potatoes, as we may judge by those in the basket and the two
well-filled bags on the wheelbarrow. As he digs them, the woman gathers
them up in her basket and empties them into the sacks. Thus busily
engaged, they suddenly hear the church bell; its great tone coming far
across the field reminds them that it is the hour of prayer. So putting
down the pitchfork and basket, they stand with bowed heads as they
repeat the evening prayer.
The artist wished to paint a picture that would make us hear the bell
sounding clearly across the deep stillness of the open field. He wished
to make us feel, as do these peasants, the quiet solemnity of the hour.
Even as a little boy Millet was greatly impressed by the sound of the
Angelus, or bell for prayers, which was rung each morning, noon, and
night. One of his earliest remembrances was of a time when the villagers
bought new bells for the church, and he went with his mother and a
neighbor to see them before they were hung. It seems that two of the old
bells had been used to make a cannon, the third was broken, and these
new bells were in the church waiting to be baptized before they could be
hung in the tower. They seemed immense to the small boy, and of course
they must have been larger than he. Millet tells of the delight and awe
he felt when the neighbor struck the bells with the great key to the
church door, which she carried in her hand.
No wonder, then, that this picture was one of Millet’s favorites, for it
reminded him of his boyhood home and brought back memories of the
thoughts and experiences of his childhood. Grown to manhood, and himself
a peasant, he, too, had heard the Angelus sounded forth from the village
church tower, and had dropped his work to bow his head in prayer. The
quiet and peace of such moments had left a deep impression which he
wished to share with us.
The long stretch of field suggests the industry of the peasants; the
distant church and their bowed heads against the bright sky tell us of
their faith.
Can you not see them on their homeward journey, the man pushing the
wheelbarrow with its heavy load, while the woman carries the basket? It
looks as if it would be a long, tiresome tramp across the uneven field
to the village so dimly visible in the distance.
This is the time of year when the peasants’ work is hardest, for during
the winter there is little farm work to do. We are told that the women
spend their winter days in spinning, weaving cloth, and making clothes,
while the men weave baskets, make their garden tools, and do what little
work there is to do.
The very simplicity of this landscape, with its lack of details, is part
of its great charm. The quiet dignity of the man and woman, standing
with bowed heads, the peace and quiet of the scene, and, above all, the
sound of the sweet-toned Angelus, give us a feeling of restfulness and
peace.
The horizon line is high in this picture, yet the sky space is large
enough to contain the heads and shoulders of our two peasants. In this
way we are made to feel that although they are bound to earth and are a
part of it, their thoughts soar higher. There is another life besides
the one of toil and privation.
At the time Millet painted this great picture he was wretchedly poor. He
sent the picture to a friend in Paris, begging him to sell it and send
the money as soon as possible. It sold for less than five hundred
dollars. Yet not many years ago a French collector paid one hundred and
fifty thousand dollars for this same picture.