Landscape

Landscapes with hills and plains spreading out beneath our eyes and gray clouds hanging over the sky were Michel’s forte. In the front, we see a goatherd couple and in the mid-distance, farmers harvesting. Based on sketches done on Montmartre, Michel is said to have composed his landscapes in his studio. The low horizon is probably influenced by the Dutch landscapes he copied to make a living. At the Louvre, he also had opportunities to copy Rembrandt. Michel demonstrated a fresh sensibility in depicting the faint light shining through the layers of clouds in the sky, thereby anticipating naturalism.

However, Michel’s works were not appreciated at the Salon and he was unable to escape poverty throughout his lifetime. It was late in life, when he sold off the works in his studio, that young artists of the Barbizon School finally discovered his talent and he was to have an influence on them.