| The Angelus | |
|---|---|
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| Artist | Jean-François Millet  |
| Year | 1857–1859 |
| Medium | oil paint, canvas |
| Dimensions | 55.5 cm (21.9 in) × 66 cm (26 in) |
| Location | Musée d'Orsay |
| Owner | John W. Wilson, Eugène Secrétan |
| Commissioned by | Thomas Gold Appleton |
| Accession No. | RF 051804048 |
| Identifiers | Joconde work ID: 000PE002013 RKDimages ID: 267308 Bildindex der Kunst und Architektur ID (deprecated): 20087075 |
The Angelus (French: L'Angélus) is an oil painting by French painter Jean-François Millet, completed between 1857 and 1859.
The painting depicts two peasants bowing in a field over a basket of potatoes to say a prayer, the Angelus, that together with the ringing of the bell from the church on the horizon marks the end of a day's work. But Louvre made an X-ray of the painting on request of Dali who was impressed greatly by the contrast between the idyllic background and tragic poses of the peasants. It appeared that originally instead of the basket of potatoes Millet had depicted a baby coffin. Thus the couple was burying their child.[1]
Millet was commissioned by the American would-be painter and art collector Thomas Gold Appleton, who never came to collect it. The painting is famous today for driving the prices for artworks of the Barbizon school up to record amounts in the late 19th century.