Jean Francois Millet Part 2

1864. Millet exhibited at the Salon: The Shepherdess, and The Birth of the Calf (see list of works in 1862).

1865. Completion of decorative pictures for M. Thomas: Spring and Summer, panels 8 by 4 ft., set in the woodwork; Autumn for the ceiling; Winter for the chimneypiece.

1866. Short visit to Vichy, Auvergne, Clermont, Issoire.

1867. Millet exhibited at the Exposition Universelle (International Exhibition):-- Death and the Woodcutter (refused by the Salon of 1859).

The Gleaners.

The Shepherdess.

The Sheep Shearer.

The Shepherd.

The Sheep Fold.

The Potato Planters.

The Potato Harvest.

The Angelus.

Visit to Vichy in June.

1867-69. The Pig Killers.

1868. Millet made Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, August 13.

Journey with Sensier in Alsace and Switzerland, September.

1870. Millet elected, March 24, juror for coming exposition.

The Woman Churning exhibited at the Salon.

Departure for Greville on account of danger of remaining in Barbizon during the war.

1871. Return to Barbizon November 7.

1874. Order from Administration of Beaux Arts for mural decorations in the Pantheon (Ste. Genevieve), Paris.

The Priory painted.

1875. Death of Millet, January 20, at Barbizon.

[Footnote 1: To this was added later 600 francs from the General Council of La Manche, but both annuities were soon discontinued.]

[Footnote 2: The exact date of Millet's severing connection with Delaroche is not mentioned by his biographers, though the circ.u.mstances are detailed.]

V. SOME OF MILLET'S a.s.sOCIATES

Companions in the studio of Delaroche:-- Charles Francois Hebert (1817- ).

Jalabert (1819- ).

Thomas Couture (1815-1879).

Edouard Frere (1819-1886).

Adolphe Yvon (1817- ).

Antigna (1818-1878).

Prosper Louis Roux (1817- ).

Marolle.

Cavalier, sculptor.

Gendron (1817-1881).

Friends and neighbors in Paris:-- Couture (also fellow student in studio of Delaroche).

Tourneaux (1809-1867), painter and poet.

Diaz (1808-1876), landscape painter.

Joseph Guichard (1836-1877), marine painter.

Charles Jacque (1813- ), etcher.

Campredon.

Sechan, clever scene painter.

Dieterle, clever scene painter.

Eugene Lacoste.

Azevedo, musical critic.

Friends at Barbizon:-- Charles Jacque (who removed thither with him).

Diaz (also a friend of the Paris days).

Corot (1796-1875).

Theodore Rousseau (1812-1867).

Laure (1806-1861).

William Morris Hunt, American painter.

Mr. Hearn, American painter.

Mr. Babc.o.c.k, American painter.

Edward Wheelwright, American painter.

Wyatt Eaton, American painter.

Will Low, American painter.

I

GOING TO WORK

On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, where the sea forms a narrow channel separating the British Isles from the European continent, lies that part of France known as the old province of Normandy. There is here a very dangerous and precipitous coast lined with granite cliffs.

The villages along the sea produce a hardy race of peasants who make bold fishermen on the water and thrifty farmers on the land.

To this Norman peasant stock belonged Jean Francois Millet, the painter of the pictures reproduced in this little book. He was brought up to hard out-of-door labor on his father's farm in the village of Greville, but when the artistic impulses within him could no longer be repressed, he left his home to study art. Though he became a famous painter, he always remained at heart a true peasant. He set up his home and his studio in a village called Barbizon, near the Forest of Fontainebleau, not many miles from Paris. Here he devoted all his gifts to ill.u.s.trating the life of the tillers of the soil. His subjects were drawn both from his immediate surroundings and from the recollections of his youth. "Since I have never in all my life known anything but the fields," he said, "I try to say, as best I can, what I saw and felt when I worked there." It is now a quarter of a century since the painter's life work ended, and in these years some few changes have been made in the customs and costumes which Millet's pictures represented. Such changes, however, are only outward; the real life of peasant labor is always the same. Seedtime and harvest, toil, weariness and rest, the ties of home and of religion, are subjects which never grow old fas.h.i.+oned.

In France the farm labors are shared by men and women alike. The peasant woman is st.u.r.dily built, and her healthy out-of-door life makes her very strong. She is fitted by nature and training to work beside the men in the fields. In our first picture we see a young man and woman starting out together for the day's work.

It is morning, and the early sun illumines the distant plain, where ploughing has already begun. The light falls on the two figures as they walk down the sloping hillside.

They are dressed for their work in clothing which is plain and coa.r.s.e, but which is perfectly suited for the purpose. The French peasants'

working clothes are usually of strong homespun cloth, fas.h.i.+oned in the simplest way, to give the wearers entire ease in motion. They are in the dull blues, browns, and reds which delight the artist's eye. Such colors grow softer and more beautiful as they fade, so that garments of this kind are none the less attractive for being old. Ragged clothing is seldom seen among peasants. They are too thrifty and self-respecting to make an untidy appearance.

[Ill.u.s.tration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clement & Co. John Andrew & Son, Sc. GOING TO WORK]