Shelley Dziedzic
Member
Der Liebesbrief, The Love Letter had been explained to me that the old man is her father, the morning post being brought to the table as was the custom in well-to-do homes. He has opened his mail, flicked the discarded letters on the floor in disinterest and has progressed on to his morning paper without a thought to his daughter who is pressing a special missive to her cheek, and is probably thinking about her response to it. Millet excelled at telling a story within a frame. These genre paintings are full of human nature and subplots. There's a lot going on in evey corner, and being a very whimsical man, he was a master at bringing two-dimensional forms to life on canvas. Portraying opposites such as youth/age, passion/indifference, etc. was a device Frank employed to great effect.If you ever get to East Bridgewater , Mass.- go to the public library where Sailing on the Bay of Naples is hung in the Millet Room. There are many little vignettes in one painting, and the expressions on the faces reveal delicious possibilities about what is going on in the interactions of the figures in the frame! Between Two Fires, in the Tate is another example just bursting with meaning among its three portrayed characters. Many of his best-loved works were made into large engravings such as this one.