The Dramatic Arrangement of Jean-François Millet’s Caw Paintings and His Artistic Ideas beyond Realism

Abstract

In the history of art, Realism advocates for artists to truly observe life and reproduce classical images in life. As a realistic artist, Millet mainly creates pictures showing what he saw in the countryside. Notable in his painting, he sometimes adds colors differently while painting natural views. This article expresses and confirms the difference between Millet by analyzing and comparing two of his works "Calling the Cows Home" and "Hunting Birds by Torchlight”. The research compares the different structures, light directions, reflection from figures, and interaction with movements of two works. It is argued that Calling the Cows Home is a classical view painting with natural light. Meanwhile, Hunting Birds by Torchlight is work with human-made light and a specific structure to prove Millet's different use of light. His light often conveys temperature and time that is beyond the simplistic understanding of realism. It is also suggested that Millet has developed a kind of dramatic effect while it maintains the feature of natural light.