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Thursday, July 19, 2012

Jean-François Millet: a Portrait of Leconte de Lisle



Leconte de Lisle was born on the island of Réunion. His father, an army surgeon, who brought him up with great severity, sent him to travel in the East Indies with a view to preparing him for a commercial life. After this voyage he went to Rennes to complete his education, studying especially Greek, Italian and history. He returned once or twice to Réunion, but in 1846 settled definitely in Paris. His first volume, La Venus de Milo, attracted to him a number of friends many of whom were passionately devoted to classical literature. In 1873 he was made assistant librarian at the Luxembourg Palace; in 1886 he was elected to the Académie française in succession to Victor Hugo. His Poèmes antiques appeared in 1852; Poèmes et poésies in 1854; Le Chemin de la croix in 1859; the Poèmes barbares, in their first form, in 1862; Les Érinnyes, a tragedy after the Greek model, in 1872; for which occasional music was provided by Jules Massenet; the Poèmes tragiques in 1884; L'Apollonide, another classical tragedy, in 1888; and two posthumous volumes, Derniers poèmes in 1899, and Premières poésies et lettres intimes in 1902. In addition to his original work in verse, he published a series of admirable prose translations of Theocritus, Homer, Hesiod, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Horace. He died at Voisins, near Louveciennes, in the department Yvelines.

(Jean-François Millet)

(Leconte de Lisle)

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Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Jean-François Millet: L'Angélus

Jean-François Millet: L'Angélus, 1857–1859
oil on canvas
Musée d'Orsay
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Jean-Fran%C3%A7ois_Millet_%28II%29_001.jpg)
no copyright infringement intended


Two peasants stop their daily work and remain in devotion while the voice of the bell is calling for the ancient prayer.

Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariæ
Et concepit de Spiritu Sancto

Ecce Ancilla Domini.
Fiat mihi secundum Verbum tuum.

Et Verbum caro factum est.
Et habitavit in nobis.




(The Moderns)

(Psalter)

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Friday, May 23, 2008

From Millet to Dali: Galerie Lareuse in Georgetown


Galerie Lareuse is in Georgetown, where Pennsylvania Avenue joins M Street. It is amazing how many art treasures are in a such a tiny room. You enter the small gallery, suddenly you are in a totally another world as the one you left on the street. You look around: enchanted discoveries surround you and you found yourself under a charming spell.

The curator of the gallery, Creg D. Kelley, is young and passionate, dedicated to his work. It is a pleasure to talk to him and to listen to his explanations about each art work there: 19th and 20th century European prints, contemporary American art, illustrated books, works on paper by original masters.

For the beginning, two photos that I tried to make there: Millet and Dali. Enjoy!






(Washington, District of Columbia)

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Sunday, May 11, 2008

In the Forest of Fontainebleau - from Corot to Monet


A superb montage putting together a camera (as it was in the 19th century) and an easel opens the way to an exhibition hosted by the National Gallery of Art in DC. It is about the Barbizon School: the French artists - painters and photographers - who came to the forest of Fontainebleau to discover there the virtues of plain-air and to set the ground for Impressionism. And so each oak in the forest became a fascinating character in the works of these artists: the scenery for the glorious march of art history from Corot to Monet, from Realism to Impressionism.

The exhibition has more than hundred works: paintings by Corot, Theodore Rousseau, Diaz de la Pena, Sisley, Millet, Monet, among others, photographs mainly by Gustave le Gray and Eugene Cuvelier.

You can see here some images from the exhibition. A more complete set of images is here; and some thumbnails.

I came today the second time to visit the exhibition, as I wanted to see once more a painting created by an artist who is perhaps less known, Charles-Emile Jacque: the departure of a flock on a road bathed by a generous sun.

Charles-Emile Jacque - Sheep Leaving a Farmyard
(Philadelphia Museum of Art)


Jean-Francois Millet is very well represented in the exhibition. Let me choose for you this Sheepfold under moonlight.


Jean-Francois Millet - The Sheepfold, Moonlight
(Walters Art Museum, Baltimore)

Here are some more images:



(Washington DC National Gallery of Art)

(The Moderns)

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