Picture Study: Jean François Millet
“We cannot measure the influence that one or another artist has upon the child’s sense of beauty, upon his power of seeing, as in a picture, the common sights of life; he is enriched more than we know in having really looked at even a single picture.” Charlotte Mason, Vol. I, p. 309
Our home-school year began last week, and the two graduates of the family have been assigned subjects to teach the younger two (boys in grades 2 and 4). In our excitement, we both decided to choose additional subjects to teach; and, for me, one of these was picture study (or, art appreciation). Every week for six weeks we will study a painting from a single artist. My choice for our first artist was the Jean François Millet. He is an artist Charlotte Mason frequently mentioned when writing about picture study. I also know that Millet had a huge influence on the art of Vincent Van Gogh, one of my (many) favorite artists.
For the biography we are reading Millet Tilled the Soil, written by Sybil Deucher and Opal Wheeler and illustrated by Dorothy Bayley. It was very difficult to choose only six of Millet’s paintings for our study, and my list kept changing (and might continue to change!). If you are unfamiliar with the purpose and method of picture study, scroll down to see a sample from my lesson plans.
Week One:
Tuesday—read and narrate* p. 5-11 (MTTS), Picture Study: The Angelus
Thursday—read and narrate p. 11-18 (MTTS)
Week Two:
Tuesday— read and narrate p. 18-24 (MTTS), Picture Study: The Sower
Thursday— read and narrate p. 24-32 (MTTS)
Week Three:
Tuesday— read and narrate p. 33-28 (MTTS), Picture Study: Winter Evening
Thursday— read and narrate p. 38-42 (MTTS)
Week Four:
Tuesday— read and narrate p. 43-52 (MTTS), Picture Study: Peasants Bringing Home a Calf Born in the Fields
Thursday— read and narrate p. 52-60 (MTTS)
Week Five:
Tuesday— read and narrate p. 60-69 (MTTS), Picture Study: Feeding Her Birds
Thursday— read and narrate p. 70-78 (MTTS)
Week Six:
Tuesday— read and narrate p. 79-86 (MTTS), Picture Study: The Gleaners
Thursday— read and narrate p. 86-96 (MTTS)
*After reading the day’s portion, I have the boys narrate it back to me. That is, they retell (without my interruption!) what they remember of the story. This encourages them to recall the order of events, important details, names... as well as giving them freedom to make personal connections to the story (expressing what they thought of a character’s behavior, telling about anything the story reminded them of). Narration requires a much higher thinking level than direct questioning (which tells the students what they need to remember). This is the first time that I have required narration from the boys, and I have been encouraged by their enthusiastic response. Their vocabulary and recall of details has been very impressive to me.
Sample Lesson Plan (Grades 2 and 4)
OBJECTS
•To introduce children to the life and art of Millet.
•To show his religious reverence and his respect for the peasant.
•To help them read a picture truly.
•To increase their powers of attention and observation.
•To cultivate worthy thought and a keen sense of beauty.
MATERIALS
•Large, high-quality prints of The Angelus. Charlotte Mason recommended that each child be given his own print. [You can download a high-resolution image of this picture at the Art Renewal Center.]
•Millet Tilled the Soil by Sybil Deucher and Opal Wheeler. This book is out of print, but may be available at your library or through interlibrary loan. You can also buy used copies. This is a living biography written for young children (ages 6-8).
•Paper and pencils with erasers.
LESSON
Step I.—Introduce the children to the basic method of our weekly picture talk. Tell them that we will begin our year’s picture study with the French artist Jean François Millet. Read to them p. 5-11 of Sybil Deucher and Opal Wheeler’s book Millet Tilled the Soil.
Step II.—Give the them the picture The Angelus to look at, and ask them to find out all they can about it themselves, and to think what idea the artist had in his mind, and what idea or ideas he meant his picture to convey. Remind them to examine the foreground and background.
Step III.—After three or four minutes, take the picture away and see what the children noticed. (Say, ‘Tell me about the picture.’) Ask the children if they have noticed anything in the picture which shows the time of day (the colored sky, the slanted shadows, the filled basket and wheelbarrow) or the time of year (harvest, warm clothing).
Mention that Millet loved to take long evening walks and note the mysterious effects of twilight. ‘It is astonishing,’ he told his brother on one such walk, ‘how grand everything on the plain appears, towards the approach of night, especially when we see figures thrown our against the sky. Then they look like giants.’
Step IV.—Let them read the title. Tell them the Angelus is a Latin prayer recited by devout Catholics three times a day—at six in the morning, at noon, and at six in the evening. Church bells would toll three times to mark these hours—one toll for each of the three parts of the Angelus. Angelus means ‘angel,’ and the prayer reminded them of the Virgin Mary and the angel’s announcement that she would bear a son who would be the Savior of the world.
Tell them that the painting was originally titled Prayer for the Potato Crop, but the church steeple was later added and the present title given. Millet showed the painting to his agent Sensier and asked, “Well, what do you think of it?” Sensier replied, “It is the Angelus. “Then you can hear the bells,” said Millet, and was content.
Step V.—Let the children draw the chief lines of the picture in five minutes with pencil and paper. When they are done, let them look at the picture again. Display it prominently throughout the week.
Friday, September 16, 2011