贫乏的画家

Some Very Poor Painters

Why should I tell you about very poor painters？ If a painter cant paint good pictures， why mention him at all？ Because... these poor painters in this chapter did paint good pictures. They were poor in money， not poor in painting.

One of these poor， good painters was a Frenchman named Corot （Ko-ro）. He was poor because no one would buy his paintings. Not until he was fifty years old did he sell a single picture. He wasnt quite as poor as that sounds， however， because his father gave him an allowance of so much a year. It was a very small allowance， but Corot managed to get along on it.

After Corot finished school he wanted to be a painter. But his father was in the linen business， and into the linen business the son had to go. Still he kept hoping he could be a painter， and finally his father let him stop selling linen and begin to study painting. Corot went to Italy for several years and became a landscape painter. Then he went back to France. He painted many fine landscapes， but no one seemed to want to buy them.

Now， at this time some other painters who were very poor in money， found they could live more cheaply in the little village of Barbizon than they could in the city of Paris. And they found， too， that the country around Barbizon was a much better place in which to paint landscapes. There they could see the forests and streams and fields that they loved to paint. So these poor-in-money painters moved to little cottages in and near Barbizon.

我為什么要向你介绍贫乏的画家呢？如果一个画家不能画出优秀的作品，我们为什么要提到他呢？因为，我要在这一章里给你们介绍的贫乏画家，是画出过优秀作品的。他们只是在钱财上贫乏，但在画技上绝不贫乏。

科洛就是这些穷困潦倒又非常优秀的画家之一，他是法国人。他很穷，因为没有人愿意买他的画，直到五十岁时他才卖出第一幅作品。不过他也没听上去的那么穷，因为他爸爸每年都会给他一点钱，尽管不是很多但也足够他生活所需。

完成学业后，科洛想做一名画家。但是科洛的爸爸是做亚麻生意的，所以想让科洛继承亚麻产业，于是科洛就只好跟着父亲学做生意。不过，科洛一直都没放弃自己的画家梦，终于，科洛在父亲同意下不再从事亚麻生意，并且开始学习绘画。科洛去意大利学习了几年绘画，成为风景画家。他回到法国后画了许多漂亮的风景画，但就是没有人愿意买他的画。

那时，还有其他许多画家也很穷。他们发现巴黎附近有一个乡村，叫巴比松，住在那里要比在巴黎市区生活成本低很多。不仅如此，他们还发现巴比松附近有许多树林、溪流、田野都很适合写生，比巴黎市区更适合画风景画。所以这些贫穷的画家就都搬去了巴比松附近，住在小木屋里。

By  V. M. Hillyer

——V. M. 希利尔（仲秋  译）

V. M. 希利尔（1875—1931），美国著名儿童教育家、科普作家，创建了卡尔弗特教育体系。他为孩子们编写了一套趣味盎然的历史、地理、艺术读物，即《写给孩子看的世界历史》《写给孩子看的世界地理》《写给孩子看的艺术史》。本文选自《写给孩子看的艺术史》，该书写于20世纪二三十年代。

It was Corots idea to live in Barbizon. He liked to get up early in the morning and go out to study the trees and fields in the early light of dawn， when often the dew was on the ground and everything looked misty. He would make sketches， or quick drawings， of what he saw， and then come home and paint. He liked twilight and moonlight， too， and often painted twilight and moonlight landscapes. His pictures have a magical， dreamy beauty that has made them famous all over the world.

When he was an old man Corots pictures began to sell. Money and fame came rolling in at last. Corot had always loved to help other people in any way he could， so now that he was wealthy he had a fine time giving most of his money away to people who needed it.

Corot was always cheery and happy with his friends， although his landscapes often seem dreamy and sad instead of cheerful and gay. Everyone loved him and called him Father Corot， and so it is pleasant to learn that he finally became so famous.

Another Barbizon painter was much poorer in money than Corot. He was one of the first to go to Barbizon. He took his wife and children and lived in a little three-room house that had no wooden floors， just packed earth. Yet he was one of the greatest painters of France， Jean Fran?ois Millet.

Millet had always been poor. His father was a farmer， and when Millet was a boy he worked on his fathers farm. When he saw some pictures in an old Bible， he started to draw. At the rest hour in the fields the other workers would all take naps， but young Millet would spend the time drawing pictures. Finally the village where he lived gave him a little money to go to Paris to study art.

科洛是最先想搬到巴比松居住的人。他喜歡早起，观察和享受晨曦中的树木和田野，清晨地面的露水还没有干，所有东西看起来都雾蒙蒙的。科洛通常会把看到的景色快速画成草图或素描，然后回家根据素描画油画。他还喜欢暮色和月光，画了许多暮色和月光下的风景画。科洛的风景画世界闻名，因为他的画有一种梦幻般的神美。

等到科洛年老时，他的画开始卖出去了，最终收获了金钱和名声。科洛一直都尽其所能帮助他人，所以有钱以后，他更加慷慨地资助那些缺钱的人。

尽管科洛的风景画总是透着一股梦幻和淡淡的忧伤，但是他和朋友们在一起的时候总是非常开心快乐。大家也都很喜欢他，亲切地叫他“科洛爸爸”。所以当大家听说科洛出名了的时候，也都非常高兴。

巴比松那里还有一位画家比科洛更穷困，他也是最早搬去巴比松的画家之一。他带着他的妻子和孩子一起住在一个小小的有三个房间的房子里。房子里没有木地板，有的只是夯实的土地。他就是让·弗朗西斯·米勒，法国最著名的画家之一。

米勒从小就很贫穷，他父亲是一位农夫，所以他小时候常常跟着父亲到地里干活。后来米勒在一本旧的《圣经》上看到一些图画，就很有兴趣地开始照着画。在地里干活休息时，其他人都会打个盹、休息一下，小米勒却把所有休息的时间都用来画画了。后来，村子里的人给了他一笔钱，让他去巴黎学美术。

Word Study

cottage /'k?t?d?/ n. 小屋;村舍

sketch /sket?/ n. 素描;速写

v. 画素描;画速写

The artist is making sketches for his next painting.

He quickly sketched the view from the window.

When Millet got to Paris he had a terrible time. He was awfully shy and not used to city ways， so he didnt get along well at all. He barely made enough money for food， by selling little pictures he painted. He liked best to paint the poor farmer people or peasants whose life he knew so well， and at last when he was almost starving someone bought one of his peasant paintings. This gave him enough money to get out of Paris and go to Barbizon， and in Barbizon he lived the rest of his life.

Millets pictures of peasants at work were painted in an unusual way. The painter would go out on the farms and watch the people at work—digging， hoeing， spreading manure， sawing wood， churning butter， washing clothes， or sowing grain. Then he would come home and paint what he had seen. His memory was so good that he could paint at home without a model and get all the movements of his figures right. When he did need a figure to go by he would ask his wife to pose for him.

One of Millets paintings is called “The Sower”. It shows a man planting seed. Have you ever seen a farmer sowing a field？ In our country it is so often done with horses and a machine， that perhaps you dont know what a swing there is to it when it is done on foot. The sowers hand keeps time with his step. It reaches into his bag for seed and then swings backward to scatter the seed， and with each swing of his hand the sower strides forward. In Millets picture the sower has been working hard， but his swinging step and outflung arm still move smoothly， in time， like a machine.

米勒来到巴黎后，生活过得很艰辛。他特别害羞，不习惯城市生活，因此刚到巴黎时很不适应，而他卖画挣的钱也只够勉强糊口。米勒最喜欢画的就是贫苦的农民，因为他非常熟悉农民的生活。最终，生活艰难的他快要饿死的时候，有人从他那儿买了一幅反映农民生活的画。靠着这笔钱他才终于离开巴黎去了巴比松。之后，米勒在巴比松度过了他的余生。

米勒画作中劳苦农民的形象创作得很独特。他经常到农场去观察农民劳作，比如挖掘、锄地、施肥、锯木头、搅拌黄油、洗衣服、播种。然后回到家里，他再把自己看到的东西画下来。米勒的记忆力极佳，甚至不用模特儿就可以把人物动作画得很得当。偶尔需要模特儿的时候，他就让妻子帮忙摆一些姿势。

米勒有一幅画叫《播种者》，画的是一个正在播种的农民。你有没有看过农民播种？在美国，播种通常是由马或机器完成的，所以你可能对徒步播种完全没有概念。徒步播种的时候，播种的农民要手脚协调得非常好才行：手先从胸前的口袋里抓一把种子，然后转过身向后摆臂，把种子撒在地里，并且每撒一次种子，农民的脚就要紧跟着往前迈出一大步。米勒画中的播种者显得十分疲惫，但播种者的步伐和挥动的手臂仍然配合得非常协调，就像机器一样灵活。

Millet made several pictures of “The Sower”， all somewhat alike. The most famous “Sower” is now in the United States， in Boston.

Another picture that is as famous as “The Sower” is called “The Gleaners”. A gleaner is someone who picks up what is left in the field after the wheat has been harvested. When farmers are very poor， as they were near Barbizon， even the little that the gleaners can find is a help. You can see from Millets picture what back-breaking work gleaning must be. And it is done by women！

Many copies have been printed of still another picture by Millet. You can sometimes buy them in the ten-cent stores. This famous painting is called “The Angelus”. It shows a French farmer and his wife stopping their work in the fields to bow their heads as they hear the church bell ring out the call to prayer， the Angelus.

Like Corot， Millet at last was recognized as a great painter before he died. But he always remained poor， and when he died his friend Corot had to give his widow money to live on.

Some of the other Barbizon painters became famous too. They all used to meet in a big barn where they had tacked drawings on the walls， and there they would talk about the painting they all loved so to do.

米勒画过许多幅看起来相差不多的《播种者》。最有名的一幅现在保存在美国的波士顿。

米勒还有一幅画叫《拾穗者》，它与《播种者》一样有名。拾穗者，是那些在收割后的地里收捡遗漏的麦穗的人。当农民非常穷的时候，比如巴比松附近的农民，即使拾起的这些粮食很少，但对他们的生计来说也是一份帮助。从米勒的画中我们可以看出，拾穗是一项非常辛苦的工作，而这项工作是女人来做的！

米勒的另一幅画直到今天还有很多它的复制品，有时你甚至可以在一元店里买到这幅画。这幅著名的画叫作《晚祷》。《晚祷》画的是一个法国农夫和他的妻子在田地里低头祷告，因为他们在干活时听到附近教堂传来的晚祷钟声，就暂时停下了手中的农活。

与科洛一样，米勒在晚年时终于被公认为一位伟大的画家。不过米勒一直都很穷，在他去世后，他的遗孀只能依靠科洛的资助生活。

住在巴比松的画家还有一些后来也很有名。他们曾经常常在一个大仓库里会面，把各自的画挂在仓库的墙上讨论，然后一起评价喜欢的绘画作品。

Word Study

barely /'be?li/ adv. 仅仅;勉强可能

We barely had time to catch the train.

sow /s??/ v. 播種

The fields around had been sown with wheat.

scatter /'sk?t?（r）/ v. 撒;撒播

Scatter the grass seed over the lawn.