Jean-Francois Millet: Feeding the Young
I once went to a hospital to make some tests, and had to wait in a line for an hour or so. I hadn’t brought a book to occupy myself with, and, as it happens in such cases, entertained myself by looking around and stealthily examining the people waiting for their call. After a few minutes a couple with twin babies arrived, maybe one-year-olds, the mother was the patient, not the children. Behind them walked a fussing grandmother, constantly reminding the younger woman that it was time to “feed the young.” Eventually the mother conceded the role of the nurturer and the feast began: the old lady took out a jar of commercial fruit mush and began forcing giant sized spoons into the babies’ mouths, cheering if at least half of the mix ended up inside. The babies seemed unhappy… they were so plump as it is, and their cheeks were almost the size of their head! After less than two spoons they were turning their lips away, peeping. The children on the painting in front of us, however, don’t seem to suffer from overfeeding.
|
The scene resembles a bird’s nest (the girls sitting on the threshold, pulling out their heads for the nourishment), where the chicks are always hungry, no matter how much food they consumed earlier. This is obviously only an illusion, of a somewhat Dickensian flair, and I think that it was an achievement on Millet’s part to portray the feeding as both touching and unsavory, as an almost clinical quenching of a physical need; he brings out both the humanistic and the naturalistic aspect of the process, becoming both the messenger and the detached spectator with a developed sense of aesthetic judgment. This seems like one of the least sentimental pieces by the artist, which personally to me serves as a recommendation. But there is an interesting drawback: though all the characteristic elements are there (palette, lines, on the verge of turning artificial composition), the typical dolce mood suffers a decline; as a result, the painting is not as powerful as some others, where the mood domineers unquestionably… Though I am not a big fan of that particular atmosphere, I have to acknowledge that it generally benefits the artwork. Without the sentimentalism it loses some of its zest, and my own tastes play insignificant role here.
|
Anyway, what happens in this painting? I’d like to focus on the composition and one of the other themes: the house, especially the wall, cover most of the canvas. The structure is of a dark and gloomy hue and the building appears abandoned and dilapidated (the inside is almost black) — a possible commentary on the living conditions of the peasants, but also on the state of the family institution as a whole. If this indeed is a family, the father and the husband is conspicuous in his absence; he might be working, but he might be also gone or fleeing (the single hen implying a one woman show). The figure of the mother is balanced by those of the three little girls, the spoon linking between the two in a symbolic fashion. The leitmotif of the continuation of the next generation is heavily overshadowed by hardships, and they become inseparable. Eventually, the wall articulates the block of poverty and economical clutches as clearly as the human interaction in front of it.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Bookmark, Share or Email this article.Read More Reviews:
This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 at 9:51 pm and is filed under Jean-Francois Millet, Realism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
on November 10, 2007 at 5:51 am Ming wrote:
I like how you linked your real life experience to the painting. So often A painting is meaningful because the real life experience of the viewer connects with that of the artist and the painting.
on November 13, 2007 at 11:33 am elijah wrote:
Hey, Ming. Yeah, I agree, I think a personal story can add an interesting touch to the interpretation. I’m planning to create a series of articles on how to interpret art, with all the stuff I came up with while writing. It’s all plans for now though, you know how long it takes to realize them all…
anyways, thanks for visiting :)
elijah