Painting – Peasant Life

Artists had been painting pictures of rural life for centuries without provoking a hint of controversy until Millet and Gustave Courbet appeared on the scene. In their work, the theme began to appear far more contentious.

Peasant subjects have a long pedigree in Western art. In Northern Europe, they can be traced back to the Middle Ages, when miniaturists included them in the calendar sections of Books of Hours, in illustrations of the farming activities that were appropriate to each month. Similarly, sowing and harvesting scenes became a regular feature of depictions of the Four Seasons, as portrayed in sets of tapestries or paintings.

In Dutch and Flemish art, peasant subjects often carried humorous overtones. In early examples, rustic figures were used to illustrate the follies or vices of mankind. By the 17th century this trend had been replaced by a taste for ‘low-life’ scenes, which showed peasants drinking, carousing, and brawling.

Elsewhere, the treatment of rural themes was often sentimental or patronizing. By and large, this was because most pictures of rustic life were produced for town dwellers, who wanted an nonthreatening, romanticized view of the countryside. This trend reached a peak in the 18th century, when many aristocratic patrons chose to be portrayed in the guise of shepherds and shepherdesses.

Jules Breton: Painter of Peasant Life

Jules Breton (1827-1906), known as one of the first “peasant painters”, created beautiful scenes of rural French life and was a highly popular figure among the Salon artists of his era.

The vogue for this type of pastoral fantasy was particularly strong in France, until it was terminated dramatically by the French Revolution of 1789. After this and the subsequent uprisings of 1830 and 1848, the French authorities were distinctly nervous about any pictures that seemed likely to promote rural unrest.

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