THE WORLD'S GREAT PAINTINGS 



The Cleaners** by Jean Francois Millet 



COURTESY OF RABJOFN & MO*COM 



If you ever visit the historic Louvre, 

 France's famous art gallery, which is 

 one of the great show places not only 

 of Paris but of all Europe, you will in 

 all probability see Jean Francois Mil- 

 let's painting, "The Gleaners." 



The picture is a wonderful example 

 of the beauty to be found in homely 

 things and places. In the foreground 

 appear the gleaners working their toil- 

 some way across the acres of the broad 

 fields, in an endeavor to glean from its 

 sunbrowned stretches some small left- 

 overs of the harvest. In the back- 

 ground are the figures of the harvesters 

 working busily, while at the left loom 

 the two enormous stacks of grain 

 which bespeak the richness of the har- 

 vest's yield. Away in the distance 

 may be seen the homes of the vil- 

 lagers and a fringing line of trees. To 

 the right sits the silent figure of an 

 overseer on horseback. Over the whole 

 scene the hot August sun beats down. 



The artist has concentrated his at- 

 tention upon the figures of the three 

 women in the foreground. The one 

 standing apart from the others shows 

 her age. She has worked long and late, 

 and the toll is telling upon her. Her 

 attitude is strained and awkward, and 

 her tired muscles find it exceedingly 

 hard to respond to her direction. Of 

 the other two, one is right in the prime 

 of her womanhood. Her back is strong 



and broad and her position is free and 

 untrammeled. One could imagine her 

 movtnjr from place to place with the 

 machinelike movement of clockwork 

 The third member of the group is 

 younger than either of the others II. 

 hands are as yet smooth and un- 

 roughened with toll, and her attitude 

 is replete with the lithe grace of ) 



In painting his gleaners Millet has 

 filled his canvas with atmosphere 

 feels the heat of the August sun, and 

 one feels the weariness of the older 

 woman. There is sympathetic t; 

 standing in his handling of colors. 



Millet was born in 1S14 in Orach? 

 near Cherbourg; Prase* Boni of the 

 peasant class, he was greatly im- 

 pressed with their distinction as a 

 and on arriving at man's estat. 

 termlned to make them the su)- 

 of his paintings. He began to study 

 painting in earnest at the age of 18. 

 and was ftrst a student in Cherbourg. ■ 

 Later he went to Paris and studied un- 

 der the great Delaroche. His fame did 

 not come without a struggle, hov. 

 but he worked on faithfully. Af 

 time public opinion changed. 11 - 



painting. "The Gleaners." was first ex- 

 hibited in the salon in 1867. It was 

 purchased at that time j, v M. Blndoi 

 and later by Mme. Pommeroy. by whom 

 it was presented to the Louvre in 188». 



