Realism

Naturalism

In the service of?

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot The Bridge at Mantes 1868-70

Wilhelm LeiblThree Women in a Village Church, 1878-1882

Wilhelm LeiblHead of a Peasant Woman, 1879

Jean-Francois MilletThe Gleaners, 1857

According to Millet, the event depicted in Masaccio’s fresco led to the scene which Millet so beautifully describes. The fall of man has caused man to toil for his bread.

Jean-Francois MilletThe Winnower, 18487

Jean-Francois MilletTrussing Hay, 1850

Rosa BonheurThe Horse Fair, 1853-1855

Rosa BonheurPlowing in the Nivernais: The Dressing of the Vines, 1849

Bonheur is an academic painter: smooth illusionism, conservative themes, balanced compositional scheme; Bonheur offers the viewer a reassuring image of the continuity of agrarian life.

How different are these two images in their argument?

John Constable The Hay-Wain 1821

Gustave CourbetThe Stone Breakers, 1849

Vincent Van Gogh The Potato Eaters 1885

Gustave Courbet

Gustave CourbetBurial at Ornans

1849-50

Gustave Courbet Young Ladies by the River Seine 1856-57

Honore Daumier photograph by Nadar

Nadar Elevating Photography to Art

Thomas Couture Romans of the Decadence 1847

Raphael The School of Athens 1509

Édouard Manet photographed by Bertha Morisot

Édouard Manet Portrait of Emile Zola, 1868

Édouard Manet

The Balcony, 1868–1869