Grote gebouwen en koeien op de voorgrond 1773 - 1843

This sketch of large buildings and cows in the foreground was made by Georges Michel, in France, at the turn of the nineteenth century. Michel is often remembered as a precursor to the Barbizon School, and this piece can tell us much about the development of French landscape painting at this time. We can see how Michel was attempting to move beyond the rigid structures of the French Academy. By sketching ordinary scenes, he aimed to capture the essence of the French countryside, in all its subtle variety. But he also documents the realities of French rural life, and the changing relationships between people, animals, and the land. Historians can research the kinds of economic pressures that would have been felt by farmers at this time, and we can consider how artistic institutions and political movements encouraged artists like Michel to produce new kinds of images.