Puy de Dôme 

Jean-François Millet made this pastel drawing of the Puy de Dôme sometime in the mid-19th century. While Millet is celebrated for his paintings of peasant life, here we see him turning his attention to landscape. In France at this time, landscape painting was tied to ideas of national identity. Artists often sought to capture the unique character of the French countryside. Millet, who grew up in rural Normandy, would have been familiar with the landscapes and the people who worked them. But rather than focusing on picturesque views, Millet's landscapes often have an emotional intensity. Note the somber atmosphere of the image. The sweeping vistas and moody lighting were typical of Romanticism, a movement that influenced Millet. To understand Millet's place in the history of French art, you could research the institutions that promoted landscape painting, such as the Salon. What was their vision of the French landscape, and how did it shape the art of the time?