Barbizon school

The Barbizon painters, among them Théodore Rousseau, Millet, Corot, Diaz and Daubigny, never formed a school in any formal sense. Rousseau, their unofficial leader, settled in the Fontainebleau area in 1841 and began to gather followers, Millet among them. They took cues from Constable and from 17th-century Dutch landscape painting, and they were drawn to nature as it really looked and to the dignity of peasants; some painted outdoors. Their treatment of their subjects broke with tradition, and critics did not warm to the individual painters until the 1850s. Their landscapes are often seen as a stepping stone from classical landscape painting to Impressionism, and by giving up the classical and Romantic views of nature for direct observation they also became a bridge toward Realism. Their lasting importance lies in open-air landscape painting and in modest, everyday subjects.

Look at the sky, light and weather in the landscape, and at any people in it. What are they doing, and how much of the picture do they take up?

• Realism (19th century) 写実主義（19世紀）→Barbizon landscape is seen as a bridge toward Realism.
• Impressionism 印象派→Seen as precursors of the Impressionists.