The Valor of the French Rural Peasant

Amidst the industrial revolution in the mid-19th century, Paris’ population exploded. Droves of the French rural population moved to more urbanized areas of the country, disrupting traditional harvesting and agriculture.  The urban French population viewed these migrating peasants as a problem to be solved. The urban French believed that rural peasants did not belong in the industrious, ever-changing urban environment; peasants belonged in the unchanging, simple, rural tradition.

It has been suggested that this drastic migration of rural peasants into urban areas (and the urban French people’s opinions of French peasantry) sparked the outpouring of art and literature depicting rural peasants as being a conservative, pastoral population.  The peasantry was imagined as hardworking, virtuous, but unintelligent. Their relationship with the land was romanticized with a religious slant.

Pastoral scenes of French rural peasantry became popularized at the French Salon. Although depictions of the peasantry were initially scoffed at, this virtuous subject matter became beloved amidst the migration of peasantry to urban areas and the rise of Marxist ideals. Some artists broke the mold of these ideal peasants, depicting peasants doing actual, tedious, difficult labor. These artworks were largely disliked in favor of romanticized depictions.

Ultimately, this phenomenon rejected the real experience of French rural populations in favor of an invented ideal. Throughout this gallery are a number of these depictions of French peasantry, ranging in levels of idealization. Here we simultaneously see the uplifting of rural French peasantry to valorous ideals, and also the complete dismissal of their actual day-to-day experiences.

Jules Breton (b. 1827)

The Weeders, 1868

Oil on canvas

The Met Fifth Avenue.

This classical scene was well-received at the Salon in 1861. Several religious connotations have developed around this painting; Du Camp claimed the women seemed to be worshiping the sun, the “father of all fecundity.”  Gautier compared the standing woman to a plant who stretches, revived in the cool of the evening.  This scene evokes a pastoral narrative; there is a harmonious relationship between weeders, earth, and sun. Under this interpretation, the weeders become gentle servants of the earth, rather than fatigued women attempting to better their husbands’ crops.

Jules Breton (b. 1827)

The Close of the Day, 1865.

Oil on canvas.

The Walters Art Museum.

This painting culminated in the height of Breton’s success. Here Breton succeeds in aligning classicism with rural peasantry. Gautier remarked on the central figure’s form, “ a beautiful girl, strengthened, but not deformed by work, [who] leans on her rake, arms crossed, with a superb gesture.”  Théophile Thore claims that Breton in this work, “translates the serenity of a hard-working life, in which artificial passions are unknown…Apparently a young peasant, carrying a sheaf on her head, evokes the symbolic image of Ceres better than a bohemian from Paris, undressed in a studio.” 

Julien Dupre (b. 1851)

Haying Scene, 1882.

Oil on canvas.

Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.

Scenes of young women haying were a common subject matter for Dupre, who evokes vigorous activity while continuing to maintain the maiden’s fair form and features. Dupre depicts old-fashioned farm tools here (tools that were outdated at the time Haying Scene was painted). This depiction serves as an indication of the “unchanging quality of rural life.”  Dupre was regularly praised for his brushwork and use of color.

Gustave Courbet (b. 1819)

The Stone Breaker, 1849.

Oil on canvas.

Private collection.

Due to the massive increase in urban population, Napoleon III began the work of transforming Paris and its surrounding areas. This undertaking required massive amounts of materials, hence the context for Courbet’s The Stone Breaker. Although this is a rural image, it echoes the need for materials to enable the industrial revolution taking place in urbanized areas. 

Jules Breton (b. 1827)

The Song of the Lark, 1884.

Oil on canvas.

Art Institute of Chicago.

This painting was wildly praised by the Salon critics, who admired the simplicity and awe of this young girl. “The moment is a crystallization, the awakening of a country girl to aesthetic beauty.”  Amidst raving reviews from Salon critics, Andre Michel seems to have held reservations concerning the “self-consciousness of a peasant so explicitly admiring the splendors of nature.”  Even American audiences have bought into this painting’s simplistic joy; The Song of the Lark was voted “America’s most popular painting” in the Chicago Daily News’ poll in 1934. 

Jean-François Millet (b. 1814)

The Gleaners, 1857.

Oil on Canvas.

Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

In comparison to Breton’s work, this painting of Millet’s was not well-liked. Paul de Saint-Victor described the three figures as “the three Fates of pauperism. They are scarecrows in rags.”  De Saint-Victor went on to accuse these figures of not having the appropriate frame for completing harsh work, such as picking up wood or drawing water from the well.   In contrast to Breton’s gently kneeling muses, Millet’s figures are in tight, strained, stooped positions, truly toiling in the harsh light of day. Millet once commented on Breton’s work, “M. Breton, in his village-pictures, always paints the girls who will not remain there.” 

Jean-François Millet (b. 1814)

The Sower, 1850.

Oil on canvas.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA.

Théophile Gautier, endeared to this work, described this work as follows: “Of all the peasants sent to the Salon this year, we much prefer ‘The Sower.’ There is something great and of the grand style in this figure, with its violent gesture, its proud raggedness, which seems to be painted with the very earth that the sower is painting.”  As described by Gautier and other critics, this sower belongs in the country, working the land; he is one with the earth there.