Millet’s “The Angelus” and “The Gleaners”.

This is a copy of Jean-Francois Millet’s, “The Angelus” that was among the many beautiful things on the Friesen Auction that was held this morning at the 4-H Building at the Fair Grounds. Millet’s companion picture of “The Gleaners” was also auctioned. After taking pictures of them, I came home; and, Elaine reminded me that we had “The Gleaners” that had hung on the north wall of the Flowerday dining room during the years of her childhood. While I was familiar with the pictures, the available Internet “research” of the Artist and his paintings was most interesting.

Here is Elaine holding the family heirloom copy of “The Gleaners”. It is a bit larger than those at the auction and in beautiful condition. Her only recollection is of it “always” hanging on the dining room wall and our inheriting it. While it is  commonly accepted that “The Angelus” depicts a husband and wife in prayer while the Church bells rang in the distance after having dug their basket of potatoes; Salvador Dali insisted that this was a funeral scene, not a prayer ritual and the couple were praying and mourning over their dead infant. Although this was an unpopular view, at his insistence the Louvre X-rayed the painting showing a small coffin over-painted by the basket. There are more great stories on both pictures. I wonder if they were among the many beautiful pictures we were able to see while visiting the Louvre some years ago.