Shepherdess with her Flock 1863

Jean-François Millet painted "Shepherdess with her Flock" at some point in his career, using oil on canvas. Here we see a lone woman with her sheep, in what was then the French countryside. In the 19th century, French art was divided between upholding tradition and challenging it. Millet and others depicted rural labor, reflecting a growing social consciousness. They questioned academic art's focus on historical and mythological subjects, and instead highlighted the lives of ordinary people, in this case perhaps the plight of women. Millet's focus on the figure situates the shepherdess within a broader narrative of rural life, reflecting the social realities of 19th-century France, and a move toward social realism. To fully grasp Millet’s work, we can examine contemporary social commentaries, agricultural records, and writings by social critics. Such resources reveal the rich, multi-layered context in which art is made, and the role art plays in its society.