MILLET, inintt', FRANC:01S (1814-73 ) . A French genre and landscape painter of the Bar ldson group. Ile was born at “ruchy, near Gr. ville (Manche), October 4, 1814, and was the eldest son and second child of a peasant. Ills who exercised a great influence upon Slillet's life and character, WilS a man of refined and deeply religious nature, and of musical tastes, being, cantor in the village church. As a boy, Millet was fond of books, and under the tuition of the village priest learned to read. but spent his early years on the farm, trxing, during hours of rest, to draw the familiar seenery and life about him. His father took him to the neighboring town of Cherbourg, where he studied under Alouchel, a pupil of the school of David, and Langlois. In 1837. aided by a :small gift of money from the couneil-general of the depart ment and by a small pension granted by the town council of Cherbourg, „Millet went to I'a•is. Ile entered the studio of Delaroehe, but, tunable to endure his master's conventional methods, and constrained by poverty, he soon withdrew, With Alarolle, a friend. he opened a little studio, giving his evenings to study and his days to painting cheap portraits and pastel imitations of Boucher and Watteau. He won some recognition with a portrait in the Salon of 1840, but soon returned to Normandy, where lie married (1841). There he supported himself by painting sign-boards. and also produced "Sailors Mending a Sail" and other genre works. In 1842 he returned to Paris, and in 1844 attracted the favorable attention of artists by his ".11ilkwoman" and "Riding Lesson." On the death of his wife he returned to Nor mandy, hut remarried and came again to Paris in 1845. His "Saint Jerome," contributed to the Salon of that year, was rejected, and Millet painted over it "tEdipus Unbound." a picture in the classical style. "The Golden Age." "The Bird N'esters," "The Bathers," and other• works followed, and in 1848 "The .Tows in Babylon" and "The Winnower," the last obtaining a real suc cess.
Soon after the outbreak of the Revolution of 1848 he abandoned Paris for the village of Barbi son, which he made his permanent Thome. Here the 'Norman peasant,' us lie called himself, was surronntled by scenes he loved, and wiih the subjection of color to sentiment he gave up the mythological and the nude, confining himself to rustic art. "The SONVVr" ( "•?50 ) was followed by "Man Spreading ',Manure" (1S32) ; `"The Tieapers" (1853): "A Peasant Crafting a Tree" (1855 I ; "The Gleaners" (1857. Louvre) , one of his very best works; Angelus" (1859) ; "Death and the Wood-Cutter;" "Feeding Her Bird" t La becquip, 1860), in the Lille and others, all produced while lie was hampered by illness and debts. In 1860 he hound himself by contract to give all his work for three years for 1000 francs a month, but the contract was dis solved in six months. To this period belong "The Sheep Shearing" (15G0); "Woman Feeding Child:" "The Sheep Shearer;" "Waiting" (all in 1861) ; "Potato Planters" (1862) ; "The Wool Carder" (1863) ; and '"Flie Man with the Hoe" (1863). From 1860 his reputation was regarded as established, and after 1863 he no longer suf fered want. In 1864 he exhibited "The Shepherd ess" and "Peasants Bringing Home a Calf;" in 1865 he produced some decorative work. At the Paris Exposition of 1867 lie received a medal of the first class, and in 1868 the ribbon of the Legion of Honor. Driven from Barbison by the
Franco-Prussian War, repaired to Cher bourg and did nut return until late in 1871. Be was deeply affected by the death, in 1867. of his friend Rousseau, with whom. of all others, he was most intimate. Although the state of his health, which had been failing for some time, curtailed the hours of work, lie continued to paint until December, 1874, when fever set in and he died on January 20, 1875.
Ile was one of the artists selected by the Gov ernment to decorate the Pantheon, but did not live to complete the commission. A number of important works have been acquired by Ameri cans, among which are: "The Sower" and the "Water Carrier" (Vanderbilt Collection, New York) ; "The Grafter" (William Rockefeller) ; "The Turkey-Keeper" (C. A. Dana. New York) ; "The Buckwheat Threshers" and the "Planters" (Quincy Shaw Collection, Boston) ; "The Churn or" (F, L. Ames, Boston) ; "Potato Harvest" and "Breaking the Flax" (Walters Collection, Balti more). Millet's paintings began to increase in before his death. hut his family, being left in straitened circumstances, was pensioned by the Government. His principal pictures have been etched and engraved. It was the master's custom to paint from memory, without Using models, and to this is partially due the simplicity and breadth with which lie treated his subjects.
Equally famous with Millet's paintings are many of his drawings, sneh as his own portrait (1848) ; "\Voman Feeding Chickens;" "Shepherd with Flock:" "The New-Born T.amb;" "Latin dresses on the Shore:" "First Steps." His pastels, ton, are equally prized]; good examples are the "Vine Dresser Besting" and "Woman Churning." All show a good draughtsman. with a fine feeling for form. Ili: color is sad in tone, gray and brown usually prevailing; and he achieved harmony by a masterly treatment of light and atmosphere. The landscape background and the animals of his paintings are the equals of those done by the greatest specialists in these branches. Among the best of his pure land seatms are "Chnreh of "Spring." and "Winter." the first two in the i.011V11`. He was also an etcher of great power. as is evident (ruin his thirteen original plates of of peasant life, as well as from a number of after his paintings. His designs for woodeuts, gener ally carried out by his two brothers, show great originality, exeented in bold. coarse out lines. more like those of the old German masters than nineteenth century etchings. Monuments to Millet have been erected in Cherbourg and Cruclp•, and a bronze plaque attached to a rock at the entrance to the forest of Fontainebleau is dedicated to him and Rousseau.
BinuoGn.kenY. The best and most complete work on Millet is by his friend Sensier, La vie et l'aurre de Jean Francois Millet (Paris, 1881; abridged English translation. Boston, 1896).
See also Piedagnel. Jean Francois airs de Barbison (Paris, 1876) ; Naegely, J. F. Millet and Rustic -Art (London, 1898) ; the biographies by Yriarte ( Paris, 1885) ; Emile Allelic] in Les artistes ei'lebres; Eaton, in Van t Dyke, .Ilodu•n French Masters (New York, 1890) ; Couturier, Millet et Corot (Saint Quen tin, 1876) ; Cense], Millet and Rousseau (Biele feld, 1902).