Portrait of Narcisse Virgile Diaz de la Peña 1848

Jean-François Millet made this drawing of Narcisse Virgile Diaz de la Peña in France in the mid-nineteenth century. The artwork shows the image of an artist within the artistic community, a very common thing at the time, but it's a little more than that. Millet was well-known for his paintings of peasant farmers, which were seen as sympathetic portrayals of the rural poor. Diaz de la Peña, on the other hand, was more focused on landscapes. Both of them were associated with the Barbizon school. The Barbizon school was a group of artists who rejected the academic style of painting that was dominant at the time. They wanted to paint what they saw in nature, and they often went into the forest of Fontainebleau to do so. This movement was a kind of challenge to the art establishment. The drawing can tell us a lot about artistic networks and the changing social status of artists in nineteenth-century France. A deep study of their correspondence and the Salon system can reveal much more. Art is always shaped by its social and institutional context.