Millet: The Sower; The Gleaners; The Angelus; The Grafter; Sheep Shearing; Potato Planting; Bundling Wheat; Returning to the Farm; Shepherdess Knitting; Woman Churning; Labor.
There is a twofold reason for introducing children to such painters as Millet, Breton, and Jacques. Besides giving them a knowledge of the works of the artists in question and adding to their appreciation of the beautiful, it will dignify labor in their eyes to learn that it inspired these great creators. If leaders of the “back to the land” movement would make free use of the art of the world among children, if during the years when impressions made are deep and lasting they would tell stories and show pictures that have been inspired by toilers in the fields, a sentiment would be created that would tell in results, because of boys and girls having learned to respect those who till the soil and work with their hands.
Artists and Paintings That Lead to Appreciation of the Beautiful and to Respect for Labor
Corot: Dance of the Children; Dance of Nymphs; Landscape with Willows; Paysage; Pond of Ville d’Avray; The Lake.
Rembrandt: Portrait of Himself; Portrait of His Mother; The Mill; The Burgomasters.
Troyon: Return to the Farm; Going to Work; Landscape with Sheep.
Van Dyck (Add to interest already aroused): Henrietta Maria, Wife of Charles I; William of Orange and Mary Stuart; Equestrian Portrait of Charles I; Portrait of Charles I with Groom and Horse.
Velazquez: Portrait of Himself; The Tapestry Weavers; Prince Balthazar; The Lancers; Equestrian Portrait of Philip IV; Infanta Maria Theresa.
When children reach the period during which they crave the heroic, when they are eager for the great epic stories, give them the great paintings that portray epic and mythological subjects. The following list contains names of artists and works that children in this stage will enjoy: