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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13119 ***
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 13119-h.htm or 13119-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/1/1/13119/13119-h/13119-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/1/1/13119/13119-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+JEAN FRANÇOIS MILLET
+
+A Collection of Fifteen Pictures and a Portrait of the Painter,
+with Introduction and Interpretation
+
+by
+
+ESTELLE M. HURLL
+
+The Riverside Art Series
+
+1900
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: JEAN FRANÇOIS MILLET]
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+In making a selection of Millet's pictures, devoted as they are to
+the single theme of French peasant life, variety of subject can be
+obtained only by showing as many phases of that life as possible.
+Our illustrations therefore represent both men and women working
+separately in the tasks peculiar to each, and working together in the
+labors shared between them. There are in addition a few pictures of
+child life.
+
+The selections include a study of the field, the dooryard, and
+the home interior, and range from the happiest to the most sombre
+subjects. They show also considerable variety in artistic motive and
+composition, and taken together fairly represent the scope of Millet's
+work.
+
+ESTELLE M. HURLL. NEW BEDFORD, MASS. March, 1900.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS AND LIST OF PICTURES
+
+
+PORTRAIT OF MILLET. DRAWN BY HIMSELF
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+     I.   ON MILLET'S CHARACTER AS AN ARTIST
+
+     II.  ON BOOKS OF REFERENCE
+
+     III. HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF THE PICTURES OF THIS COLLECTION
+
+     IV.  OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN MILLET'S LIFE
+
+     V.   SOME OF MILLET'S ASSOCIATES
+
+I.    GOING TO WORK
+
+II.   THE KNITTING LESSON
+
+III.  THE POTATO PLANTERS
+
+IV.   THE WOMAN SEWING BY LAMPLIGHT
+
+V.    THE SHEPHERDESS
+
+VI.   THE WOMAN FEEDING HENS
+
+VII.  THE ANGELUS
+
+VIII. FILLING THE WATER-BOTTLES
+
+IX.   FEEDING HER BIRDS
+
+X.    THE CHURCH AT GRÉVILLE
+
+XI.   THE SOWER
+
+XII.  THE GLEANERS
+
+XIII. THE MILKMAID
+
+XIV.  THE WOMAN CHURNING
+
+XV.   THE MAN WITH THE HOE
+
+XVI.  THE PORTRAIT OF MILLET
+
+PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY OF PROPER NAMES AND FOREIGN WORDS
+
+NOTE: All the pictures were made from carbon prints by Braun, Clément & Co.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+I. ON MILLET'S CHARACTER AS AN ARTIST
+
+
+The distinctive features of Millet's art are so marked that the most
+inexperienced observer easily identifies his work. As a painter of
+rustic subjects, he is unlike any other artists who have entered the
+same field, even those who have taken his own themes. We get at the
+heart of the matter when we say that Millet derived his art directly
+from nature. "If I could only do what I like," he said, "I would paint
+nothing that was not the result of an impression directly received
+from nature, whether in landscape or in figure." His pictures are
+convincing evidence that he acted upon this theory. They have a
+peculiar quality of genuineness beside which all other rustic art
+seems forced and artificial.
+
+The human side of life touched him most deeply, and in many of his
+earlier pictures, landscape was secondary. Gradually he grew into
+the larger conception of a perfect harmony between man and his
+environment. Henceforth landscape ceased to be a mere setting or
+background in a figure picture, and became an organic part of the
+composition. As a critic once wrote of the Shepherdess, "the earth
+and sky, the scene and the actors, all answer one another, all hold
+together, belong together." The description applies equally well to
+many other pictures and particularly to the Angelus, the Sower, and
+the Gleaners. In all these, landscape and figure are interdependent,
+fitting together in a perfect unity.
+
+As a painter of landscapes, Millet mastered a wide range of the
+effects of changing light during different hours of the day. The mists
+of early morning in Filling the Water-Bottles; the glare of noonday in
+the Gleaners; the sunset glow in the Angelus and the Shepherdess;
+the sombre twilight of the Sower; and the glimmering lamplight of
+the Woman Sewing, each found perfect interpretation. Though showing
+himself capable of representing powerfully the more violent aspects of
+nature, he preferred as a rule the normal and quiet.
+
+In figure painting Millet sought neither grace nor beauty, but
+expression. That he regarded neither of these first two qualities as
+intrinsically unworthy, we may infer from the grace of the Sower, and
+the naïve beauty of the Shepherdess and the Woman Sewing. But that
+expression was of paramount interest to him we see clearly in the
+Angelus and the Man with the Hoe. The leading characteristic of his
+art is strength, and he distrusted the ordinary elements of prettiness
+as taking something from the total effect he wished to produce. "Let
+no one think that they can force me to prettify my types," he said. "I
+would rather do nothing than express myself feebly."
+
+It was always his first aim to make his people look as if they
+belonged to their station. The "mute inglorious Milton" and Maud
+Muller with her "nameless longings" had no place on his canvases. His
+was the genuine peasant of field and farm, no imaginary denizen of the
+poets' Arcady. "The beautiful is the fitting," was his final summary
+of æsthetic theory, and the theory was put into practice on every
+canvas.
+
+In point of composition Millet's pictures have great excellence. "I
+try not to have things look as if chance brought them together," he
+said, "but as if they had a necessary bond between them." So nothing
+is accidental, but every object, however small, is an indispensable
+part of the whole scheme.
+
+An important characteristic of his work is its power to suggest
+the third dimension of space. The figures have a solid, tangible
+appearance, as if actually alive. The Gleaners, the Woman Churning,
+and the Man with the Hoe are thoroughly convincing in their reality.
+
+The picture of the Gleaners especially has that so-called "quality of
+circumambient light" which circulates about the objects, so to speak,
+and gives them position in space. Millet's landscapes also have
+a depth of spaciousness which reaches into infinite distance. The
+principles of composition are applied in perspective as well as
+laterally. We can look into the picture, through it, and beyond it, as
+if we were standing in the presence of nature.
+
+Mr. Bernhard Berenson goes so far as to say that this art of "space
+composition," as he terms it, can "directly communicate religious
+emotion," and explains on this ground the devotional influence of
+Perugino's works, which show so remarkable a feeling for space.[1]
+If he is right, it is on this principle, rather than because of its
+subject, that the Angelus is, as it has sometimes been called, "one of
+the greatest religious paintings of the age."
+
+While Millet's art is, in its entirety, quite unique, there are
+certain interesting points of resemblance between his work and that of
+some older masters. He is akin to Rembrandt both in his indifference
+to beauty and in his intense love of human nature. Millet's
+indifference to beauty is the more remarkable because in this he stood
+alone in his day and generation, while in the northern art of the
+seventeenth century, of which Rembrandt is an exponent, beauty was
+never supreme.
+
+As a lover of human nature, Millet's sympathies, though no less
+intense than Rembrandt's, were less catholic. His range of observation
+was limited to peasant life, while the Dutch master painted all
+classes and conditions of men. Yet both alike were profound students
+of character and regarded expression as the chief element of beauty.
+Rembrandt, however, sought expression principally in the countenance,
+and Millet had a fuller understanding of the expressiveness of the
+entire body. The work of each thus complements that of the other.
+
+Millet's passion for figure expression was first worked out in
+painting the nude. When he abandoned such subjects for the homelier
+themes of labor, he gave no less attention to the study of form and
+attitude. The simple clothing of the peasant is cut so loosely as to
+give entire freedom of motion to the body, and it is worn so long
+that it shapes itself perfectly to the figure. The body thus clad
+is scarcely inferior to the nude in assuming the fine lines of an
+expressive pose.
+
+Millet's instinct for pose was that of a sculptor. Many of the
+figures for his pictures were first carefully modelled in wax or clay.
+Transferred to canvas they are drawn in the strong simple outlines of
+a statue. It is no extravagant flight of fancy which has likened him
+to Michelangelo. In the strength and seriousness of his conceptions,
+the bold sweep of his lines, and, above all, in the impression of
+motion which he conveys, he has much in common with the great Italian
+master. Like Michelangelo, Millet gives first preference to the
+dramatic moment when action is imminent. The Sower is in the act of
+casting the seed into the ground, as David is in the act of stretching
+his sling. As we look, we seem to see the hand complete its motion. So
+also the Gleaners, the Women Filling the Water-Bottles, and the Potato
+Planters are all portrayed in attitudes of performance.
+
+When Millet represents repose it is as an interval of suspended
+action, not as the end of completed work. The Shepherdess pauses but
+a moment in her walk and will immediately move on again. The man and
+woman of the Angelus rest only for the prayer and then resume their
+work. The Man with the Hoe snatches but a brief respite from his
+labors. The impression of power suggested by his figure, even in
+immobility, recalls Michelangelo's Jeremiah.
+
+To the qualities which are reminiscent of Michelangelo Millet adds
+another in which he is allied to the Greeks. This is his tendency
+towards generalization. It is the typical rather than the individual
+which he strives to present. "My dream," he once wrote, "is to
+characterize the type." So his figures, like those of Greek sculpture,
+reproduce no particular model, but are the general type deduced from
+the study of many individuals.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: In _Central Italian Painters of the Renaissance_.]
+
+
+
+
+II. ON BOOKS OF REFERENCE
+
+
+Since the death of Millet, in 1875, much that is interesting and
+valuable has been written of his life and work. The first biography
+of the painter was that by his friend Sensier, in a large illustrated
+volume whose contents have been made familiar to English readers by an
+abridged translation published in this country simultaneously with
+the issue of the French edition. Containing all the essential facts of
+Millet's outward life, besides a great number of the artist's letters,
+together with his autobiographical reminiscences of childhood,
+Sensier's work is the principal source of information, from which all
+later writers draw. Yet it is not an altogether fair and satisfactory
+presentation of Millet's life. Undue emphasis is laid upon his
+struggles with poverty, and the book leaves much to be desired.
+
+Julia Cartwright's recent work, "Jean François Millet: His Life and
+Letters," is founded on Sensier's life, yet rounds out the study of
+the master's character and work with the fuller knowledge with which
+family and friends have described his career.
+
+Another recent book called "J.F. Millet and Rustic Art" is by
+Henry Naegely (published in England), and is critical rather than
+biographical in purport. It is a sympathetic appreciation of Millet's
+art and character, and grows out of a careful study of the painter's
+works and an intimate connection with the Millet family.
+
+Besides these books devoted exclusively to the subject, the life work
+of Millet is admirably sketched in brief form in the following more
+general works:--
+
+Richard Muther's "History of Modern Painting," Mrs. Stranahan's
+"History of French Painting," Rose G. Kingsley's "History of French
+Art," and D.C. Thomson's "Barbizon School."
+
+Of great importance to the student of Millet are the various articles
+contributed to the magazines by those who knew and understood the
+painter. The following are of special note: By Edward W. Wheelwright,
+in "The Atlantic Monthly," September, 1876; by Wyatt Eaton, in the
+"Century," May, 1889; by T.H. Bartlett, in "Scribner's," May and June,
+1890; by Pierre Millet, in "Century," January, 1893, and April, 1894;
+and by Will Low, in "McClure's," May, 1896. Julia Cartwright, in the
+preface to the above mentioned biography, mentions other magazine
+articles not so generally accessible.
+
+
+
+
+III. HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF THE PICTURES OF THIS COLLECTION
+
+
+_Portrait frontispiece_, a life-size crayon made by Millet in 1847
+and given to his friend Charlier. It afterwards became the property of
+Sensier..
+
+1. _Going to Work_, one of several versions of the subject in
+different mediums, oil, pastel, drawing, and etching. This picture was
+painted in 1851, and was at one time (1891) in a private collection in
+Glasgow.[1] It is to be distinguished from the picture of 1850, where
+the woman carries a pitcher instead of a rope.[2]
+
+2. _The Knitting Lesson_, a drawing corresponding in general
+composition, with some changes of detail, to the small painting (17 by
+14-1/2 in.) of the subject in the collection of Mrs. Martin Brimmer,
+in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
+
+3. _The Potato Planters_, painted in 1862, and exhibited at the
+great exhibition at Paris of that year, also again in 1867 at the
+International Exhibition. It changed hands for large sums during
+the painter's lifetime, and is now in the Quincy A. Shaw collection,
+Boston, Mass.
+
+4. _The Woman Sewing by Lamplight_, painted in 1872, and sold in 1873
+for 38,500 francs, the highest price at that time ever paid for one of
+Millet's works.
+
+5. _The Shepherdess_, painted in 1862, and exhibited at the Salon of
+1864, also again at the Exposition Universelle of 1867. It is now in
+the collection of M. Chauchard.
+
+6. _The Woman Feeding Hens_, a charcoal sketch, corresponding in
+general composition to the description of a painting bearing the same
+name, which was painted in 1854 for M. Letrône for 2000 francs.
+
+7. _The Angelus_, an oil painting measuring 25 by 21 in. The first
+drawing for the picture was sold February, 1858. The painting was
+completed for exhibition in the Salon of 1859. It was declined by the
+patron for whom it was intended, and finally sold to a Belgian artist
+in 1860, and soon afterwards to the Belgian minister. The original
+price was 2000 francs. The picture passed from one owner to another,
+and in 1873 was bought by J.W. Wilson for 50,000 francs, later
+bringing at the Wilson sale of 1881 the sum of £6400. In an auction
+sale of the Secrétan collection, July, 1889, there was an immense
+excitement over the contest between the French government, represented
+by M. Proust, Director of Fine Arts, and various American dealers, who
+were determined to win the prize. It was finally knocked down to M.
+Proust for 553,000 francs, but the French government refused to ratify
+the purchase, and the picture was brought to the United States. Here
+the customs duty exacted was so enormous (£7000) that the picture
+remained only six months (the duty being waived during that period),
+and after being exhibited throughout the country finally returned to
+France, where it was purchased for £32,000 by M. Chauchard, who has
+the finest collection of Millets in existence.
+
+8. _Filling the Water-Bottles,_ a charcoal drawing, which attracted
+much attention when exhibited in the Millet collection of the Paris
+Exposition, 1889.
+
+9. _Feeding Her Birds_, painted in 1860, and exhibited in Salon of
+1861. Presented by a purchaser to the Museum of Lille in 1871.
+
+10. _The Church at Gréville_, sketched during Millet's visit at
+Gréville in the summer of 1871; referred to by him, in a letter of
+1872, as still in process of painting; found in his studio at the
+time of his death, in 1875. The picture was bought by the French
+government, and is now in the Louvre, Paris.
+
+11. _The Sower_, the second painting of the subject, painted in 1850,
+and exhibited in the Salon of 1850-51. It is now in the Vanderbilt
+collection, New York.
+
+A pencil sketch of the Sower is in the collection of Millet's
+drawings, at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.[3]
+
+12. _The Gleaners_, a painting first exhibited at the Salon of 1867.
+It was sold to M. Binder of l'Isle Adam for 2000 francs. In 1889 it
+was purchased by Madame Pommeroy for 300,000 francs, and presented
+to the Louvre, Paris. A pencil drawing of the three figures is in the
+collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
+
+13. _The Milkmaid_, painted in 1871 from a sketch made in Gréville.
+Seen in Millet's studio in 1873 by Will Low, the American artist.
+
+14. _The Woman Churning_, one of several versions of the subject, the
+first of which appeared in 1870.
+
+15. _The Man with the Hoe_, painted in 1862 and exhibited at the Salon
+of 1863. Sold to a Belgian collector, and long in Brussels. It is now
+owned by Mr. W.S. Crocker of San Francisco, Cal.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: See D.C. Thomson's _Barbizon School_, pp. 226, 227.]
+
+[Footnote 2: See Julia Cartwright, _Life and Letters of Jean François
+Millet_, pp. 114,115.]
+
+[Footnote 3: This is one of an interesting collection of drawings in
+this museum, which also contains several original paintings by Millet,
+a Shepherdess, seated, a portrait of the painter, and others. Other
+fine Millets are in the private collections of Boston, where the
+painter received early appreciation, owing to the enthusiasm of
+William Morris Hunt, the painter, and such connoisseurs as Mr. Quincy
+Shaw and Mr. Brimmer.]
+
+
+
+
+IV. OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN MILLET'S LIFE
+
+
+1814.  Millet born, October 4, in hamlet of Gruchy, commune of Gréville, in
+        the old province of Normandy, France.
+
+1832.  Two months' study with Mouchel in Cherbourg.
+           Death of Millet's father.
+           Study with Langlois in Cherbourg.
+
+1837.  Removal to Paris, supported by annuity of 400 francs from the
+        municipality of Cherbourg.[1]
+
+1837-1839 (?). Studies with Delaroche.[2]
+
+1840.  A portrait of M.L.F. exhibited at Salon of the Louvre.
+
+1841.  Portrait of Mademoiselle Antoinette Feuardent.
+           Marriage with Mademoiselle Pauline Virginie Ono in Cherbourg.
+
+1842.  Returned to Paris.
+
+1844.  Millet exhibited at Salon: the Milkmaid, the Riding Lesson.
+           Death of Millet's wife, April 21, and Millet's return home for
+            18 months.
+
+1845.  Marriage with Catherine Lemaire late in summer, in Gréville.
+           Visit in Havre in November.
+           Arrival in Paris in December, and residence in the rue
+            Rochehouart.
+
+1847.  Oedipus taken from the Tree exhibited at the Salon.
+
+1848.  Millet exhibited at the Salon the Winnower, bought by M.
+        Ledru-Rollin for 500 francs, and the Captivity of the Jews in
+        Babylon.
+
+1849.  Removal to Barbizon.
+
+1850.  The Sower painted and exhibited at the Salon with the Sheaf Binders.
+
+1851.  Death of Millet's grandmother, Louise Jumelin, at Gruchy.
+
+1853.  Death of Millet's mother at Gruchy.
+           Millet exhibited at the Salon:--
+             Ruth and Boaz, bought by an American.
+             The Sheep Shearer,} bought by William Morris
+             The Shepherd,     } Hunt.
+
+1854.  Visit four months to the surroundings of the old home in Normandy.
+
+1855.  The Grafter, exhibited at the Salon.
+
+1856.  Le Pare aux Moutons painted.
+
+1857.  The Gleaners exhibited at the Salon.
+
+1859.  The Angelus exhibited at the Salon.
+
+1860-1861. The Shepherd in the Fold by Moonlight, and the Femme aux Seaux.
+
+1861.  The Potato Planters painted.
+           Millet exhibited at the Salon of the Champs Elysèes:
+             Feeding Her Birds.
+             Waiting.
+             The Sheep Shearer.
+
+1862.  List of pictures painted:--
+             Winter.
+             The Crows.
+             Sheep Feeding.
+             The Wool Carder.
+             The Stag.
+             The Birth of the Calf.
+             The Shepherdess.
+             The Man with the Hoe.
+
+1863.  Millet sent to Salon: Man with the Hoe, The Wool Carder (see list of
+        works in 1862), and a Shepherd bringing Home his Sheep.
+
+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 Gréville 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 Panthéon (Ste. Geneviève), 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
+circumstances are detailed.]
+
+
+
+
+V. SOME OF MILLET'S ASSOCIATES
+
+
+Companions in the studio of Delaroche:--
+  Charles François Hébert (1817- ).
+  Jalabert (1819- ).
+  Thomas Couture (1815-1879).
+  Edouard Frère (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.
+  Camprédon.
+  Séchan, clever scene painter.
+  Diéterle, clever scene painter.
+  Eugène Lacoste.
+  Azevédo, 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. Babcock, 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 François 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
+Gréville, 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 illustrating 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 fashioned.
+
+In France the farm labors are shared by men and women alike. The
+peasant woman is sturdily 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 coarse,
+but which is perfectly suited for the purpose. The French peasants'
+working clothes are usually of strong homespun cloth, fashioned 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.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. GOING TO WORK]
+
+The men wear soft felt hats, the brim of which can be pulled forward
+to shade the eyes. The women cover their heads neatly with caps or
+kerchiefs, and are nearly always seen with aprons. Men and women both
+wear the heavy wooden shoes called _sabots_, in which the feet suffer
+no pressure as from leather shoes, and are protected against the
+moisture of the ground.
+
+The peasants of our picture carry all they need for the day's work.
+A three-pronged fork rests across the man's shoulder, and a wallet of
+lunch hangs from his left arm. The woman has a basket, a linen sack,
+and a bit of rope. Evidently something is to be brought home. Just now
+she has swung the empty basket up over her shoulders and it covers her
+head like a huge sunbonnet.
+
+The two young people are full of the healthy vigor which makes work
+a pleasure. They go cheerfully to their day's task as if they really
+enjoyed it. We cannot help suspecting that they are lovers. The man
+carries himself erect with a conscious air of manliness, and steps
+briskly, with his hand thrust into his pocket. The girl hides her
+shyness in the shadow of the basket as she turns her face towards
+his. The two swing along buoyantly, keeping step as if accustomed to
+walking together.
+
+At the close of the day's work the basket and sack will be filled, and
+the laborers will return to their home by the same way. The burden may
+be heavy, but they will bear it as the reward of their toil.
+
+The picture of Going to Work was painted at about the same time[1]
+as the The Sower, which forms one of the later illustrations of our
+collection. A comparison of the pictures will show interesting points
+of resemblance between the two men striding down hill. Though Going to
+Work is not as a work of art of equal rank with The Sower, we get in
+both pictures a delightful sense of motion which makes the figures
+seem actually alive.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: That is, within a year. See dates in the _Historical
+Directory_.]
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+THE KNITTING LESSON
+
+
+In the picture we have been examining we have seen something of the
+outdoor life of the French peasants, and now we are shown the interior
+of one of their houses, where a Knitting Lesson is being given. The
+girls of the French peasantry are taught only the plainest kinds of
+needlework. They have to begin to make themselves useful very early in
+life, and knitting is a matter of special importance. In these large
+families many pairs of stockings are needed, and all must be homemade.
+This is work which the little girls can do while the mother is busy
+with heavier labors. The knitting work becomes a girl's constant
+companion, and there are few moments when her hands are idle.
+
+The little girl in our picture is still a beginner in the art, and the
+lesson is a very exciting occasion to her. Already she feels like a
+woman.
+
+The mother and daughter have their chairs by the window to get a good
+light on the work. It is a large and beautiful casement window, of the
+kind almost universal in France, opening lengthwise in the middle in
+two parts which swing on hinges like doors. The window seat serves as
+a table, to hold the basket and scissors. The doll is thrust into the
+corner; our little girl has "put away childish things"--at least for
+the moment,--and takes her task very seriously.
+
+The two chairs are drawn close together, the one a small counterpart
+of the other. The child braces her feet firmly on one of the rounds
+and bends her whole mind to her work. Both mother and daughter wear
+close white caps, though the little girl's is of a more childish
+pattern and does not cover her pretty hair in front.
+
+The mother has been sewing on some large garment which lies across
+her lap. She lets the little girl work by herself for a time, and then
+stops to set her right. Already a considerable length of stocking
+has been made, but this is a place where close attention is needed.
+Perhaps it is time to begin shaping the heel. The mother's work
+is left altogether for a moment. Putting her arm about the child's
+shoulder, she takes the two little hands in hers, and guides the
+fingers holding the needles.
+
+We get some idea of the quaint style of the building from this glimpse
+of the living-room. Probably it is a low stone cottage with thatched
+or tiled roof. The deep window seat shows how thick the walls are.
+Overhead we see the oak rafters.
+
+The room looks spotlessly clean, as a good housewife's should. Though
+we see only a corner, that corner holds the most precious household
+possession, the linen chest. It stands against the wall, and is of
+generous size. French country people take great pride in storing up a
+quantity of linen; tablecloths, sheets, shirts, pillowcases, often
+of their own weaving, are piled in the deep clothes-presses. In
+well-to-do families there are enough for six months' use, the family
+washing taking place only twice a year, in spring and fall, like
+house-cleaning in America. We judge that our housekeeper is well
+provided, by the pile of neatly folded sheets on the press. The little
+clock, high on the wall, and the vase of flowers on the chest are
+the only touches of ornament in the room. On the wall are some small
+objects which look like shuttles for weaving.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE KNITTING LESSON]
+
+As we look at the picture we feel sure that Millet was a lover of
+children, and it is pleasant to know that he had many of his own. The
+artist father was his children's favorite playmate, and at the close
+of his day's work in his studio, they ran to meet him with shouts of
+joy. He used to like to walk about the garden with them showing them
+the flowers. In winter time they sat together by the fire, and the
+father sang songs and drew pictures for the little ones. Sometimes
+taking a log from the wood basket he would carve a doll out of it, and
+paint the cheeks with vermilion. This is the sort of doll we see on
+the window seat in our picture.
+
+Ruskin tells us that a true artist feels like a caged bird in painting
+any enclosed space, unless it contains some opening like a door or
+window. No amount of beauty will content us, he says, if we are shut
+in to that alone. Our picture is a good proof of this principle. We
+can easily fancy how different the effect would be without the window:
+the room would appear almost like a prisoner's cell. As it is, the
+great window suggests the out-of-door world into which it opens, and
+gives us a sense of larger space.
+
+Our illustration is taken from a drawing. Millet was a painstaking
+artist who made many drawings and studies for his paintings. This is
+probably such a study, as there is also a painting by him of the same
+subject very similar to this.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+THE POTATO PLANTERS
+
+
+In the picture called The Potato Planters we are reminded at once
+of the peasants we have already seen in Going to Work. We see here
+married people a few years older than the young people of the other
+picture working together in the fields.
+
+It may be that this is their own little plot of ground, for they work
+with a certain air of proprietorship. They look prosperous, too, and
+are somewhat better dressed than common laborers. It is the highest
+ambition of the French peasant to own a bit of land. He will make any
+sacrifice to get it, and possessing it, is well content. He labors
+with constant industry to make it yield well.
+
+The field here is at quite a distance from the village where the
+workers live. We can see the little group of houses on the horizon. In
+France the agricultural classes do not build their dwelling-houses on
+their farms, but live instead in village communities, with the
+farms in the outlying districts. The custom has many advantages. The
+families may help one another in various ways both by joining forces
+and exchanging services. They may also share in common the use of
+church, school, and post office. This French farming system has been
+adopted in Canada, while in our own country we follow the English
+custom of building isolated farmhouses.
+
+In working season the French farmer must go daily to his labor at
+a distance. The people in our picture are fortunate enough to own
+a donkey which is their burden-bearer between house and field. The
+strong little creature can carry a heavy load properly disposed in
+pannier baskets. The panniers are made very deep and wide, but rather
+flat, so as to fit the sides of the donkey. With one of these hanging
+on each side of the saddle, the weight of the burden is so well
+distributed that it is easily borne.
+
+The donkey of our picture has been relieved of his panniers, and now
+rests in the shade of some apple-trees. One of the baskets is in the
+mean time put to a novel use. Made soft and warm with a heavy cloak,
+it forms a nice cradle for the baby. The babies in French peasant
+families are often left at home with the grandmother, while the mother
+goes out to field work. The painter Millet himself was in childhood
+the special charge of his grandmother, while his mother labored on the
+farm. The people of our picture have another and, as it seems, a much
+pleasanter plan, in going to the field as a family party.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE POTATO PLANTERS]
+
+The day is well advanced and the work goes steadily on. It is potato
+planting, and the potato crop is of great importance to country
+people, second perhaps to the wheat, as it supplies food to both man
+and beast. The commoner varieties, as the large white, are raised for
+cattle, and the finer and sweeter kinds, the red and the yellow, are
+kept for the table.
+
+The laborer and his wife move along the field, facing each other on
+opposite sides of the row they are planting. The man turns the sod
+with his hoe, a short-handled tool which long practice has taught him
+to use skilfully. The wife carries the potato seed in her apron, and
+as her husband lifts each spadeful of earth, she throws the seed into
+the hole thus made. He holds the hoe suspended a moment while the seed
+drops in, and then replaces the earth over it. The two work in perfect
+unison, each following the other's motion with mechanical regularity,
+as they move down the field together.
+
+The two who work so well together in the field are sure to work well
+together in the home. The man has the serious, capable look of a
+provident husband. The woman looks like a good housewife. That shapely
+hand throwing the seed so deftly into the ground is well adapted to
+domestic tasks.
+
+We may easily identify our picture as a familiar scene in Millet's
+Barbizon surroundings. We are told that "upon all sides of Barbizon,
+save one, the plain stretches almost literally as far as the eye can
+reach," and presents "a generally level and open surface." "There are
+no isolated farmhouses, and no stone walls, fences, or hedges,
+except immediately around the villages; and were it not all under
+cultivation, the plain might be taken for a vast common."[1]
+
+It is evident, then, that we here see the plain of Barbizon and true
+Barbizon peasants of Millet's day. The villagers of the painter's
+acquaintance were on the whole a prosperous class, nearly all owning
+their houses and a few acres of ground. The big apple-tree under which
+the donkey rests is just such an one as grew in Millet's own little
+garden.
+
+Fruit trees were his peculiar delight. He knew all their ways,
+and "all their special twists and turnings;" how the leaves of the
+apple-tree are bunched together on their twigs, and how the roots
+spread under ground. "Any artist," he used to say, "can go to the East
+and paint a palm-tree, but very few can paint an apple-tree."
+
+
+[Footnote 1: From Edward Wheelwright's _Recollections of Jean François
+Millet,_ in _Atlantic Monthly_, September, 1876.]
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+THE WOMAN SEWING BY LAMPLIGHT
+
+
+Though the peasant women of France have so large a share in the
+laborious out-of-door work on the farms, they are not unfitted for
+domestic duties. In the long winter evenings they devote themselves
+to more distinctly woman's tasks, knitting and sewing, sometimes even
+spinning and weaving. Their housekeeping is very simple, for they live
+frugally, but they know how to make the home comfortable. Many modern
+inventions are still unknown to them, and we should think their
+customs very primitive, but on this account they are perhaps even more
+picturesque.
+
+There is contentment in every line of the face of this Woman Sewing by
+Lamplight. It is the face of a happy young wife and mother. She
+sits close by her baby's bedside that she may listen to his gentle
+breathing as he sleeps, and she smiles softly to herself while she
+sews. It is a sweet face which bends over the work, and it is framed
+in the daintiest of white caps edged with a wide ruffle which is
+turned back over the hair above the forehead, that it may not shade
+her eyes.
+
+The garment that lies on her lap is of some coarse heavy material. No
+dainty bit of fancy work is this, but a plain piece of mending. It
+may be the long cloak which the shepherd wraps about him in cold and
+stormy weather. Made from the wool grown on his own sheep, spun by his
+wife's own hand, it is unrivalled among manufactured cloths for warmth
+and comfort. The needle is threaded with a coarse thread of wool,
+which the sewer draws deftly through the cloth.
+
+On a pole which runs from floor to ceiling is a hook, from which a
+lamp is suspended by a chain. This lamp appears to be a boat-shaped
+vessel with the wick coming out at one end. The light gilds the
+mother's gentle profile with shining radiance; it illumines the
+fingers of her right hand, and gleams on the coarse garment in her
+lap, transforming it into a cloth of gold.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co. THE WOMAN
+SEWING BY LAMPLIGHT John Andrew & Son, Sc.]
+
+The baby meanwhile lies on the other side of the lamp in the shadow.
+His little mouth is open, and he is fast asleep. We can almost fancy
+that the mother croons a lullaby as she sews. There is a pathetic
+little French song called La Petite Hélène, which Millet's mother used
+to sing to him, and which he in turn taught his own children. Perhaps
+we could not understand the words if we could hear it. But when
+mothers sing to their babies, whatever the tongue in which they speak,
+they use a common language of motherhood. Some such simple little
+lullaby as this, which mothers of another land sing to their babes,
+would doubtless interpret this mother's thoughts:--
+
+  "Sleep, baby, sleep!
+  Thy father watches the sheep;
+  Thy mother is shaking the dreamland tree,
+  And down comes a little dream on thee.
+  Sleep, baby, sleep!
+
+  "Sleep, baby, sleep!
+  The large stars are the sheep;
+  The little ones are the lambs, I guess:
+  The gentle moon is the shepherdess,
+  Sleep, baby, sleep!
+
+  "Sleep, baby, sleep!
+  Our Saviour loves his sheep;
+  He is the Lamb of God on high
+  Who for our sakes came down to die.
+  Sleep, baby, sleep!"
+
+When we remember that the ancient Romans had lamps constructed
+somewhat like that in the picture, it seems strange that so rude a
+contrivance should be in use in the nineteenth century. But this is
+only the practical and prosaic side of the question. For artistic
+purposes the lamp is just what is wanted in the composition.
+
+You can see how a lamp with a glass chimney and shade would spoil the
+whole effect. We should lose that strange beautiful halo surrounding
+the wick, and the light would fall only on the work, instead of
+glorifying the face of the mother. These wonderful impressions of
+light add much to the artistic beauty of the picture, and explain why
+artists have so greatly admired it.
+
+The picture naturally recalls that other Mother and Babe, Mary of
+Nazareth and the holy Child Jesus, who for so many centuries have
+inspired the imagination of artists. Often a painter has drawn his
+first conception for this sacred subject from some peasant mother and
+child such as these.
+
+In order to give religious significance to their pictures, artists
+have tried in many ways to suggest the supernatural. They have
+introduced halos about the heads of Mary and Jesus, and have made
+the light seem to shine mysteriously from the child's body. Now our
+painter Millet, representing only an ordinary mother and babe, has
+not used any such methods. Nevertheless, without going beyond strict
+reality, he has produced a mystical effect of light which makes this
+picture worthy of a place among the Madonnas. The glow of the lamp
+transforms the familiar scene into a shrine of mother's love.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+THE SHEPHERDESS
+
+
+Many years ago the early English poet, Sir Philip Sidney, wrote a book
+about an imaginary country called Arcadia, noted for the sweetness
+of the air and the gentle manners of the people. As he described the
+beauties of the scenery there, he told of "meadows enamelled with all
+sorts of eye-pleasing flowers; each pasture stored with sheep feeding
+with sober security; here a shepherd's boy piping as though he should
+never be old; there a young shepherdess knitting and withal singing,
+and it seemed that her voice comforted her hands to work, and her
+hands kept time to her voice-music."
+
+We could easily fancy that our picture of the Shepherdess was meant
+to illustrate a scene in Arcadia. Here is the meadow "enamelled with
+eye-pleasing flowers," the sheep "feeding with sober security," and
+the young shepherdess herself knitting. Though she is not singing with
+her lips, her heart sings softly as she knits, and her hands keep time
+to the dream-music.
+
+Early in the morning she led her flock out to the fallow pastures
+which make good grazing ground. All day long the sheep have nibbled
+the green herbage at their own sweet will, always under the watchful
+eye of their gentle guardian. Her hands have been busy all the time.
+Like patient Griselda in Chaucer's poem, who did her spinning while
+she watched her sheep, "she would not have been idle till she slept."
+Ever since she learned at her mother's knee those early lessons in
+knitting, she has kept the needles flying. She can knit perfectly well
+now while she follows her flock about. The work almost knits itself
+while her eyes and thoughts are engaged in other occupations.
+
+The little shepherdess has an assistant too, who shares the
+responsibilities of her task. He is a small black dog, "patient and
+full of importance and grand in the pride of his instinct."[1] When a
+sheep is tempted by an enticing bit of green in the distance to stray
+from its companions, the dog quickly bounds after the runaway and
+drives it back to the flock. Only the voice of the shepherdess is
+needed to send him hither, thither, and yon on such errands.
+
+Now nightfall comes, and it is time to lead the flock home to the
+sheepfold. The sheep are gathered into a compact mass, the ram in
+their midst. The shepherdess leads the way, and the dog remains at
+the rear, "walking from side to side with a lordly air," to allow no
+wanderer to escape.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE SHEPHERDESS]
+
+Their way lies across the plain whose level stretch is unbroken by
+fences or buildings. In the distance men may be seen loading a wagon
+with hay. The sheep still keep on nibbling as they go, and their
+progress is slow. The shepherdess takes time to stop and rest now and
+then, propping her staff in front of her while she picks up a stitch
+dropped in her knitting. There is a sense of perfect stillness in the
+air, that calm silence of the fields, which Millet once said was the
+gayest thing he knew in nature.
+
+The chill of nightfall is beginning to be felt, and the shepherdess
+wears a hood and cape. Her face shows her to be a dreamer. These
+long days in the open air give her many visions to dream of. Her
+companionship with dumb creatures makes her more thoughtful, perhaps,
+than many girls of her age.
+
+As a good shepherdess she knows her sheep well enough to call them all
+by name. From their soft wool was woven her warm cape and hood, and
+there is a genuine friendship between flock and mistress. When she
+goes before them, they follow her, for they know her voice.
+
+Among the traditions dear to the hearts of the French people is one of
+a saintly young shepherdess of Nanterre, known as Ste. Geneviève. Like
+the shepherdess of our picture, she was a dreamer, and her strange
+visions and wonderful sanctity set her apart from childhood for a
+great destiny. She grew up to be the saviour of Paris, and to-day her
+name is honored in a fine church dedicated to her memory. It was the
+crowning honor of Millet's life that he was commissioned to paint on
+the walls of this church scenes from the life of Ste. Geneviève. He
+did not live to do the work, but one cannot help believing that his
+ideals of the maiden of Nanterre must have taken some such shape as
+this picture of the Shepherdess.
+
+In the painting from which our illustration is reproduced, the colors
+are rich and glowing. The girl's dress is blue and her cap a bright
+red. The light shining on her cloak turns it a rich golden brown.
+Earth and sky are glorified by the beautiful sunset light.
+
+As we look across the plain, the earth seems to stretch away on every
+side into infinite distance. We are carried out of ourselves into the
+boundless liberty of God's great world. "The still small voice of the
+level twilight" speaks to us out of the "calm and luminous distance."
+
+Ruskin has sought to explain the strange attractive power which
+luminous space has for us. "There is one thing that it has, or
+suggests," he says, "which no other object of sight suggests in equal
+degree, and that is,--Infinity. It is of all visible things the least
+material, the least finite, the farthest withdrawn from the earth
+prison-house, the most typical of the nature of God, the most
+suggestive of the glory of his dwelling place."[2]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Like the watchdog described in Longfellow's _Evangeline_,
+Part II.]
+
+[Footnote 2: In _Modern Painters_, in chapter on "Infinity," from
+which also the other quotations are drawn.]
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+THE WOMAN FEEDING HENS
+
+
+In walking through a French village, we get as little idea of the home
+life of the people as if we were in a large town or city. The houses
+usually border directly upon the street, and the spaces between are
+closed with high walls, shutting in the thoroughfare as completely as
+in a city "block." Behind these barriers each family carries on its
+domestic affairs in the privacy of its own domain. The _cour_, or
+dooryard, is the enclosure adjoining the house, and is surrounded on
+all sides by buildings or walls. Beyond this the more prosperous have
+also a garden or orchard, likewise surrounded by high walls.
+
+In the dooryard are performed many of the duties both of the barn and
+the house. Here the cows are milked, the horses groomed, the sheep
+sheared, and the poultry fed. Here, too, is the children's playground,
+safe from the dangers of the street, and within hearing of the
+mother's voice.
+
+It is into such a dooryard that we seem to be looking in this picture
+of The Woman Feeding Hens. It is a common enough little house which
+we see, built of stone, plastered over, in the fashion of the French
+provinces, and very low. In the long wall from the door to the garden
+gate is only one small high window. But time and nature have done much
+to beautify the spot. In the cracks of the roof, thatched or tiled,
+whichever it may be, many a vagrant seed has found lodgment. The weeds
+have grown up in profusion to cover the bare little place with
+leaf and flower. Indeed, there is here a genuine roof garden of the
+prettiest sort, and it extends along the stone wall separating the
+dooryard from the garden. Some one who has seen these vine-fringed
+walls in Barbizon describes them as gay with "purple orris, stonecrop,
+and pellitory."
+
+A young wife presides in the little cottage home and rules her side
+of the dooryard with gentle sway. She has a curly-haired baby boy who
+creeps after her as she goes about her work. His inquiring mind is at
+this age investigating all the corners of the house, and before long
+he will be the young master of the dooryard.
+
+The housewife boasts a small brood of hens. Early in the morning the
+voice of the chanticleer is heard greeting the dawn. Presently
+he leads his family forth to begin their day's scratching in the
+dooryard. Here and there they wander with contented clucks, as they
+find now and then a worm or grub for a titbit. But it is only a poor
+living which is to be earned by scratching. The thrifty housewife sees
+to it that her brood are well fed. At regular times she comes out of
+the house to feed them with grain, as she is doing now.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE WOMAN FEEDING HENS]
+
+The baby hears the mother's voice saying, in what is the French
+equivalent, "Here chick-chick-chick," and creeps swiftly to the door.
+He, too, tries to call "chick-chick." He watches the odd creatures
+eagerly as they gobble up the seed. They stand about in a circle,
+heads all together in the centre, bobbing up and down as long as any
+food remains. Chanticleer holds back with true gallantry, and with an
+air of masculine superiority. The belated members of the brood come
+running up as fast as they can. The apron holds a generous supply, so
+that there is enough for all, but the housewife doles it out prudently
+by the handful, that none may suffer through the greediness of the
+others.
+
+As we study the lines of the picture a little, they teach us some
+important lessons in composition. We note first the series of
+perpendicular lines at regular intervals across the width of the
+picture. These counterbalance the effect of the long perspective which
+is so skilfully indicated in the drawing of the house and the garden
+walk. The perspective is secured chiefly by three converging lines,
+the roof and ground lines of the house, and the line of the garden
+walk. These lines if extended would meet at a single point.
+
+Once more let us recall Ruskin's teaching in regard to enclosed
+spaces.[1] The artist is unhappy if shut in by impenetrable barriers.
+There must always be, he says, some way of escape, it matters not by
+how narrow a path, so that the imagination may have its liberty.
+
+This is the principle which our painter has applied in his picture.
+He wisely gives us a glimpse of the sky above, and shows us the shady
+vista of the garden walk leading to the great world beyond.
+
+Our illustration is from a charcoal drawing, which, like the Knitting
+Lesson, is matched by a corresponding painting.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: In _Modern Painters_ in the chapter on "Infinity."]
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+THE ANGELUS
+
+
+The early twilight of autumn has overtaken two peasants at the close
+of a day's work in the field. They are gathering the potato harvest.
+The dried plants are first pulled up, and the potatoes carefully dug
+out of the holes. Then the vegetables are taken from the furrows by
+the basketful, and poured into brown linen sacks to be carried home
+on the wheelbarrow. One of these sacks is not yet quite full, and the
+work has been prolonged after sunset.
+
+The field is a long way from the village, but in the still air sounds
+are carried far across the plain. Suddenly the bell of the village
+church peals forth. The man stops digging and plunges his fork into
+the earth, and the woman hastily rises from her stooping posture. The
+Angelus bell is ringing, and it calls them to prayer.
+
+Three times each day, at sunrise, midday, and sunset, this bell
+reminds the world of the birth of Jesus Christ. The strokes are rung
+in three groups, corresponding to the three parts of The Angelus,
+which are recited in turn. The first word gives the bell its
+name,--Angelus, the Latin for angel.
+
+  "The angel of the Lord announced to Mary,
+  And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
+
+  "Behold the handmaid of the Lord,
+  Be it done unto me according to thy word.
+
+  "And the word was made flesh
+  And dwelt among us."
+
+Thus run the words of the translation in the three couplets into which
+they are separated, and then this prayer is added: "We beseech thee, O
+Lord, pour forth thy grace into our hearts; that as we have known the
+incarnation of thy Son Jesus Christ by the message of an angel, so
+by his cross and passion we may be brought into the glory of his
+resurrection, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord."
+
+Besides this, after each couplet of the Angelus, is recited that
+short hymn of praise, beginning with the words which the angel of the
+annunciation addressed to Mary,[1] "Ave Maria." This is why the hour
+after sunset is so often called the hour of Ave Maria. The English
+poet Byron has written of this solemn moment:--
+
+  "Ave Maria! blessed be the hour!
+  The time, the clime, the spot, where I so oft
+  Have felt that moment in its fullest power
+  Sink o'er the earth so beautiful and soft,
+  While swung the deep bell in the distant tower,
+  Or the faint dying day-hymn stole aloft,
+  And not a breath crept through the rosy air,
+  And yet the forest leaves seemed stirred with prayer."
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE ANGELUS]
+
+The atmosphere of prayer pervades the picture. The woman stands with
+bowed head and hands clasped over her breast. Her whole body sways
+slightly forward in the intensity of her devotion. Her husband has
+bared his head and holds his hat before him. Though he may seem
+somewhat awkward, he is not less sincerely reverent.
+
+The sunset light shines on the woman's blue apron, gilds the potato
+sacks in the wheelbarrow, and gleams along the furrows. Farther away,
+the withered plants are heaped in rows of little piles. Beyond, the
+level plain stretches to meet the glowing sky, and, outlined on the
+horizon, is the spire of the church where the bells are ringing.
+
+As the meaning of the picture grows upon us, we can almost hear the
+ringing of the bells. Indeed, to those familiar with such scenes in
+actual life, the impression is very vivid. The friend to whom Millet
+first showed his painting immediately exclaimed, "It is the Angelus."
+"Then you can hear the bells," said the artist, and was content.
+
+The solemn influence of the picture is deepened by the effects of the
+twilight on the plains. A wide outlook across a level country, like
+a view of the sea, is always impressive, but it has peculiar power
+in the vague light which follows the sunset. Many poetic natures have
+felt this mystic spell of the gloaming as it descends upon the plain.
+Robert Louis Stevenson was one of these, and upon visiting Barbizon he
+described vividly his feelings at such an hour. We are told also
+that Millet loved to walk abroad at nightfall and note the mysterious
+effects of the twilight. "It is astonishing," he once said to his
+brother in such a walk, "how grand everything on the plain appears,
+towards the approach of night, especially when we see the figures
+thrown out against the sky. Then they look like giants."
+
+In nearly all of Millet's pictures people are busy doing something.
+Either hands or feet, and sometimes both hands and feet, are in
+motion. They are pictures of action. In the Angelus, however, people
+are resting from labor; it is a picture of repose. The busy hands
+cease their work a moment, and the spirit rises in prayer. We have
+already seen, in other pictures, how labor may be lightened by love.
+Here we see labor glorified by piety.
+
+The painting of the Angelus has had a remarkable history. The patron
+for whom it was first intended was disappointed with the picture when
+finished, and Millet had no little difficulty in finding a purchaser.
+In the course of time it became one of the most popular works of the
+painter, and is probably better known in our country than any other of
+his pictures. In 1889 it was bought by an American, and was carried
+on an exhibition tour through most of the large cities of the
+United States. Finally it returned to France, where it is now in the
+collection of M. Chauchard.
+
+The Angelus is one of the few of Millet's works which have changed
+with time. The color has grown dark and the canvas has cracked
+somewhat, owing to the use of bitumen in the painting.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: "Hail Mary"; see St. Luke, chapter i., verse 28.]
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+FILLING THE WATER-BOTTLES
+
+
+The artist Millet loved to draw as well as to paint. Black and white
+pictures had their charm for him as truly as those in color. Indeed,
+he once said that "tone," which is the most important part of color,
+can be perfectly expressed in black and white. It is therefore not
+strange that he made many drawings. Some of these, like the Knitting
+Lesson and the Woman Feeding Hens, were, as we have seen, studies for
+paintings. The picture called Filling the Water-Bottles was, on the
+other hand, a charcoal drawing, corresponding to no similar painting.
+It is in itself a finished work of art.
+
+It is a typical French river scene which we see here, and it gives
+us an idea how large a part a river may take in the life of French
+country people. Sometimes it is the sole source of water for a
+village. Then it is not only the common village laundry, in which all
+clothing is washed, but it is also the great village fountain, from
+which all drinking-water is drawn.
+
+The women in our picture have come to the bank with big earthen jars
+to fill. It is in the cool of early morning, and the mist still lies
+thick over the marshes bordering the river. The sun, seen through the
+mist, looks like a round ball. On the farther bank, where a group of
+poplars grow, some horsemen ride up to ford the stream. They, too, are
+setting forth early on their day's work. One is already half across.
+
+The women have picked out, along the marshy bank, a point of land
+jutting into the river like a miniature promontory, and seemingly of
+firm soil. It is only large enough to hold one at a time, so they take
+turns. One is now filling a bottle, while the other waits, standing
+beside two jars.
+
+The first woman kneels on the ground, and supporting herself firmly
+by placing one hand on the edge of the bank, she grasps the jar by
+the handle, with her free right hand, and swings it well out over the
+water. Experience has taught her the most scientific way of filling
+the jar with least muscular strain. She does not try to plunge it down
+into the water, but holding it on its side, slightly tipped, draws it
+along with the mouth half under the surface, sucking in the water as
+it moves. We see what hard, firm muscles she has to hold the arm out
+so tensely. Her arm acts like a compass describing the arc of a circle
+through the water with the jar. As we look, we can almost see her
+completing the circle, and drawing up the full jar upon the bank.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co. FILLING THE
+WATER-BOTTLES John Andrew & Son, Sc.]
+
+The woman who waits her turn is capable of the same feat. There is
+power in every line of her figure as she stands in what has been well
+described by a critic as a "majestic pose." She straightens back
+to rest, with her arms on her hips, quite unconscious that there is
+anything fine in her appearance.
+
+Look a minute and you will see that she is the woman of the Angelus.
+As we saw her in the other picture, with head bowed and hands clasped
+on her breast, we did not realize how grand and strong she was. But
+raising her head, throwing back her chest, and putting her arms on her
+sides, she shows us now her full power.
+
+Both women are dressed alike in the clothing which is now familiar
+to us from the other pictures,--coarse gowns made with scanty skirts,
+long aprons reaching nearly to the bottom of the dress, kerchiefs
+fastened snugly about their heads, and wooden sabots. We could not
+imagine anything that would become them better. It is part of the
+French nature to understand the art of dressing, and this art is
+found just as truly among the peasants of the provinces as in the
+fashionable world at Paris.
+
+The picture is a study in black and white which any one who cares for
+drawing will wish to examine attentively. He was indeed a master who
+could, with a single bit of charcoal, make us feel the witchery of
+this early morning hour by the river-side. We note the many different
+"tones" of the picture,--the faint soft mist of the distant atmosphere
+over the marshes, growing darker on the poplars and the hilly bank in
+the middle distance; the shadow of the bank in the river; the gleam of
+the sunlight on the calm water mid-stream; the ripples about the jar;
+the sharply defined figures of the women, dark on the side turned
+from the sun; and the quivering shadow of the kneeling woman in the
+ripple-broken water in front.
+
+Among primitive peoples the hour of sunrise was a sacred time, when
+hymns were sung and sacrifices were offered to the life-giving sun.
+The painter Millet has expressed something of the mystic solemnity of
+the hour in this picture. The sun has awakened the world to work, and
+in its strength men and women go forth to labor.[1]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: A fine passage on the morning occurs in Thoreau's second
+chapter of _Walden_.]
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+FEEDING HER BIRDS
+
+
+As we have already seen in the picture of the Woman Feeding Hens, the
+dooryard in French village homes is so shut in by walls, that it
+has the privacy of a family living-room. This was the arrangement in
+Millet's own home at Barbizon. The painter was among the fortunate
+ones who had a garden beyond the dooryard. At the other end of this
+was his studio, where he worked many hours of the day. It is said
+that he used to leave the door open that he might hear the children's
+voices at their play. Sometimes, indeed, he would call them in to
+look at his pictures, and was always much pleased when they seemed to
+understand and like them. We may be sure that he often looked across
+the garden to the dooryard where the family life was going on, and
+at such times he must have caught many a pretty picture. Perhaps our
+picture of this mother feeding her children was suggested in this way.
+
+Three healthy, happy children have been playing about in the yard,--a
+girl of six, her younger sister, and a brother still younger. They are
+dressed simply, so as to enjoy themselves thoroughly without fear
+of injuring any fine clothes. All three wear long aprons and wooden
+sabots. The little girls have their flying hair confined in close
+bonnet caps tied under the chin. The boy rejoices in a round cap
+ornamented on top with a button. The sisters take great care of their
+little brother.
+
+The toys are of a very rude sort and evidently of home manufacture. A
+cart is constructed of a board set on clumsy wheels. A doll is roughly
+shaped of wood and wrapped in a hood and blanket. There is a basket
+besides, in which one can gather bits of treasure picked up here and
+there in the yard.
+
+By and by the play is interrupted by a familiar voice. The children
+look up and see their mother standing smiling in the doorway. A bowl
+which she has in her hand is still steaming, and an appetizing odor
+reminds them that they are hungry. The basket and the cart are hastily
+dropped, but not the doll, and they all run to the doorstep. The
+brother is placed in the middle and the sisters seat themselves
+on either side. The elder girl still holds her doll with maternal
+solicitude; the other two children clasp hands, and the sister's arm
+is put around the boy's neck.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. FEEDING HER BIRDS]
+
+Meanwhile the mother has seated herself directly in front of them, on
+a low stool such as is used by country people as a milking-stool. She
+tips it a little as she leans over to feed the children in turn from a
+long-handled wooden spoon. Of course the first taste is for the little
+brother, and he stretches out his neck eagerly, opening his mouth wide
+so as not to lose a drop. The sisters look on eagerly, the younger one
+opening her own mouth a little, quite unconsciously. An inquisitive
+hen runs up to see what good things there are to eat. In the garden
+beyond, the father works busily at his spading.
+
+The name which Millet gave to this picture is the French word
+_Becquée_, which cannot be translated into any corresponding word in
+English. It means a _beakful_, that is, the food which the mother bird
+holds in her beak to give to the nestlings.
+
+The painter had in mind, you see, a nestful of birds being fed. The
+similarity between the family and the bird life is closely carried
+out in the picture. The children sit together as snugly as birds in
+a nest. The mother bends toward them in a brooding attitude which
+is like the bird mother's. Her extended hand suggests a bird's beak,
+tapering to a sharp point at the end of the spoon. The young bird's
+mouth is wide open, and in pops the nice spoonful of broth! The
+house itself is made to look like a cosy little nest by the vine that
+embowers it. The sturdy stem runs up close by the doorstep and sends
+out over door and window its broad branches of beautiful green leaves.
+
+And just as the father bird watches the nest from his perch on some
+branch of the tree, the father at work in the garden can look from
+time to time at the little family circle in the doorway. As in the
+picture of the Woman Feeding Hens, the house is built of stone covered
+with plaster. The door casing is of large ill-matched blocks of stone.
+The dooryard is made to appear much larger by the glimpse of the
+orchard we get through the gateway. No out-of-door picture is complete
+which does not show something of the beauty of nature. The dooryard
+itself would be a bare place but for the shady garden beyond.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+THE CHURCH AT GRÉVILLE
+
+
+The village-commune of Gréville has nothing to make it famous except
+that it was the birthplace of the painter Millet. It is at the tip
+of Cape La Hague, which juts abruptly from the French coast into the
+English channel. The cape is a steep headland bristling with granite
+rocks and needles, and very desolate seen from the sea. Inland it is
+pleasant and fruitful, with apple orchards and green meadows.
+
+The village life centres about the church, for the inhabitants of
+Grenville are a serious and God-fearing people. The church is the spot
+around which cluster the most sacred associations of life. Here the
+babies are baptized, and the youths and maidens confirmed; here
+the young people are married, and from here young and old alike are
+carried to their last resting-place. The building is hallowed by the
+memories of many generations of pious ancestors.
+
+The Millet family lived in an outlying hamlet (Gruchy) of Grenville,
+and were somewhat far from the church. Yet they had even more
+associations with it than other village families. Here our painter's
+father had early shown his talent for music at the head of the choir
+of boys who sang at the Sunday service. Here at one time his old
+uncle priest, Charles Millet, held the office of vicar and went every
+morning to say mass.
+
+Among the earliest recollections of Jean François was a visit to the
+church of Gréville at a time when some new bells had just been bought.
+They were first to be baptized, as was the custom, before being hung
+in the tower, and it was while they still stood on the ground that the
+mother brought her little boy to see them. "I well remember how much
+I was impressed," he afterwards said, "at finding myself in so vast a
+place as the church, which seemed even more immense than our barn, and
+how the beauty of the big windows, with their lozenge-shaped panes,
+struck my imagination."
+
+At the age of twelve the boy went to be confirmed at the church
+of Gréville, and thenceforth had another memorable experience to
+associate with the place. The vicar, who questioned him, found him so
+intelligent that he offered to teach him Latin. The lessons led to the
+poems of Virgil, which opened a new world to him.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE CHURCH AT GRÉVILLE]
+
+Years passed; the boy became a man and the man became a famous artist.
+But the path to fame had been a toilsome one, and as Millet pressed on
+his way he was able to return but seldom to the spots he had loved
+in his youth, and then only on sad errands. At length the time
+came (1871) when the artist brought his entire family to his native
+Grenville to spend a long summer holiday. Millet made many sketches
+of familiar scenes which gave him material for work for the next three
+years. One of these pictures was that of the village church, which
+he began to paint sitting at one of the windows of the inn where the
+family were staying.
+
+If the building had lost the grandeur it possessed for his childish
+imagination, it was still full of artistic possibilities for a
+beautiful picture.
+
+It is a solid structure, and we fancy that the builders did not have
+far to bring the stone of which it is composed. The great granite
+cliffs which rise from the sea must be an inexhaustible quarry.
+The building is low and broad, to withstand the bleak winds. A less
+substantial structure, perched on this plateau, would be swept over
+the cliffs into the sea. There is something about it suggestive of the
+sturdy character of the Norman peasants themselves, strong, patient,
+and enduring. It is very old; the passing years have covered the walls
+with moss, and nature seems to have made the place her own. It is as
+if, instead of being built with hands, it were a portion of the old
+cliffs themselves.
+
+The grassy hillock against which the church nestles is filled with
+graves, a cross here and there marking the place where some more
+important personage is buried. Here is the sacred spot where Millet's
+saintly old grandmother was laid to rest. A rough stone wall surrounds
+the churchyard, as old and moss-grown as the building itself. Some
+stone steps leading into the yard are hollowed by the feet of many
+generations of worshippers. In the rear is a low stone house embowered
+in trees.
+
+The square bell-tower lifts a weather-vane against the sky, and the
+birds flock about it as about an old home. The rather steep roof is
+slightly depressed, as if beginning to sink in.
+
+With a painter's instinct Millet chose the point of view from which
+all the lines of the church would be most beautiful and whence we may
+see to the best advantage the quaint outlines of the tower. Beside
+this, he took for his work the day and hour when that great artist,
+the sun, could lend most effective help. So we see the simple little
+building at its best. The sky makes a glorious background, with fleecy
+clouds delicately veiling its brilliancy. The bright light throws
+a shadow of the tower across the roof, breaking the monotony of its
+length. The bareness of the big barn-like end is softened by the
+shadow in which it is seen. The plain side is decorated with the
+shadows of the buttresses and window embrasures.
+
+The sheep are as much at home here as the birds. They nibble
+contentedly in the road by the wall, and are undisturbed by the
+approach of a villager. Beyond, at the left, is a glimpse of the level
+stretch of the sea. This is a spot where earth and sky and water meet,
+where the fishermen from the sea and the ploughmen from the fields
+come to worship God.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+THE SOWER
+
+
+It is nightfall, and the sky is cloudy save where the last rays of the
+setting sun illumine a spot on the horizon. While the light lasts,
+the Sower still holds to his task of sowing the seed. A large sack of
+grain is fastened about his body and hangs at his left side, where one
+end of it is grasped firmly in the left hand lest any of the precious
+seed be spilled. Into this bag he plunges his right hand from time to
+time, and draws out a handful of grain which he flings into the furrow
+as he walks along.
+
+The Sower's task ended, a series of strange transformations begins in
+the life of the seed. The winter rain softens and swells it, and when
+spring comes it pushes its way up in a tiny shoot. Soon the slender
+blades appear in close lines; by and by the stalks grow tall and
+strong, and the field is full of the beautiful green grain.
+
+Then the hot summer sun shines with ripening power; the wheat turns a
+golden yellow; the ears bend under the weight of the grain, and it is
+time for the harvest. The reapers come with sickle and scythe, and
+the grain is cut, and bound into great sheaves. The thrashing follows,
+when the ear is shaken off the stalk, and the grain is winnowed. And
+now the mills take up the work, the golden wheat grains are crushed,
+and the fine white flour which they contain is sifted and put into
+bags. The flour is mixed and kneaded and baked, and at length comes
+forth from the oven a fragrant loaf of bread.
+
+Now bread is a necessity of life to the people, and the supply of
+bread turns on the history of the seed. If the harvest is plenty, the
+people may eat and be happy. If it is poor, they suffer the miseries
+of hunger. If it fails altogether, they die of starvation. It is then
+a solemn moment when the seed is planted. Often the sower begins
+his task by tossing a handful of grain into the air in the sign of a
+cross, offering a prayer for a blessing on the seed. His is a grave
+responsibility; every handful of seed means many loaves of bread for
+hungry mouths. He must choose the right kind of seed for his soil, the
+right kind of weather for the planting, and use the grain neither too
+lavishly nor too sparingly.[1]
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE SOWER]
+
+This is why the Sower in our picture takes his task so seriously. He
+carries in his hand the key to prosperity. He is a true king. Peasant
+though he is, he feels the dignity of his calling, and bears himself
+royally. He advances with a long swinging stride, measuring his steps
+rhythmically as if beating time to inaudible music. His right arm
+moves to and fro, swinging from the shoulder as on a pivot, and
+describing the arc of a circle.
+
+The hilly field in which he works is such as the painter Millet was
+familiar with in his peasant childhood in Normandy. A yoke of oxen are
+drawing the plough in the distance, as is the custom in that province.
+The Sower himself is a true Norman peasant.
+
+It is interesting to trace the outlines of the composition. There
+is first the long line on the Sower's right side, beginning at the
+shoulder and following the outer edge of the right leg to the ground.
+On the other side, curving to meet this, is a line which begins at the
+top of the head, follows the left arm and the overhanging sack, and
+is faintly continued by the tiny stream of seed which leaks from the
+corner of the bag and falls near the Sower's foot. Crossing these
+curves in the opposite direction are the lines of the right arm and
+the left leg. Thus the figure is painted in strong simple outlines
+such as we see in the statues by great sculptors.
+
+The line defining the edge of the field against the sky, sloping in
+the direction in which the Sower walks, adds to the impression of
+motion which is so strongly suggested by the picture. As we look, we
+almost expect to see the Sower reach the foot of the slope, and stride
+out of sight, still flinging the grain as he goes.
+
+There is another thing to note about the composition, and that is
+the perfect proportion of the single figure to the canvas which it so
+completely fills. This was the result of the painter's experiments.
+In the haste of his first inspiration he did not allow space enough to
+surround the Sower.[2] He then carefully traced the figure on a larger
+canvas and made a second picture. Afterwards the same subject was
+repeated in a Barbizon landscape.
+
+Our American poet William Cullen Bryant has written a poem called
+"The Song of the Sower," which is very suggestive in connection with
+Millet's painting.[3] This is the way the song ends:--
+
+  "Brethren, the sower's task is done,
+  The seed is in its winter bed.
+  Now let the dark-brown mould be spread,
+  To hide it from the sun,
+  And leave it to the kindly care
+  Of the still earth and brooding air,
+  As when the mother, from her breast,
+  Lays the hushed babe apart to rest,
+  And shades its eyes, and waits to see
+  How sweet its waking smile will be.
+  The tempest now may smite, the sleet
+  All night on the drowned furrow beat,
+  And winds that, from the cloudy hold,
+  Of winter breathe the bitter cold,
+  Stiffen to stone the yellow mould,
+    Yet safe shall lie the wheat;
+  Till, out of heaven's unmeasured blue
+  Shall walk again the genial year,
+  To wake with warmth and nurse with dew
+  The germs we lay to slumber here."
+
+
+[Footnote 1: For farmer's lore as to the diverse soils and diverse
+planting seasons, see Virgil's _Eclogues_, books i. and ii.]
+
+[Footnote 2: In spite of this imperfection the first Sower is a highly
+prized painting and is in the Quincy-Shaw Collection, Boston.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Compare also Victor Hugo's poem, often referred to in
+descriptions of this picture, _Saison des Semailles: Le Soir_.]
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+THE GLEANERS
+
+
+It is harvest time on a large farm. The broad fields have been shorn
+of their golden grain, and men and women are still busy gathering
+it in. The binders have tied the wheat in sheaves with withes, the
+sheaves are piled upon a wagon and carried to a place near the farm
+buildings, where they are stacked in great mounds resembling enormous
+soup tureens. The overseer rides to and fro on his horse giving orders
+to the laborers.
+
+Now come the gleaners into the field to claim the time-honored
+privilege of gathering up the scattered ears still lying on the
+ground. The custom dates back to very early times.[1] The ancient
+Hebrews had a strict religious law in regard to it: "When ye reap
+the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the
+corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any
+gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to
+the stranger."[2] Another law says that the gleanings are "for the
+fatherless and for the widow; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in
+all the work of thine hands."[3]
+
+This generous practice is still observed in France. The owner of a
+grain field would be afraid of bad luck to the harvest if he should
+refuse to let the gleaners in after the reapers. Gleaning is, however,
+allowed only in broad daylight, that no dishonest persons may carry
+away entire sheaves.
+
+It is near noon of a summer day, and the sun is high in the heavens,
+casting only small shadows about the feet. The gleaners are three
+women of the poorer peasant class. They are tidily dressed in their
+coarse working clothes, and wear kerchiefs tied over their heads, with
+the edge projecting a little over the forehead to shade the eyes. The
+dresses are cut rather low in the neck, for theirs is warm work.
+
+They make their way through the coarse stubble, as sharp as needles,
+gathering here and there a stray ear of the precious wheat. Already
+they have collected enough to make several little bundles, tied
+neatly, and piled together on the ground at one side.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE GLEANERS]
+
+As we look at them closely we see that they represent the three ages
+of womanhood: there is a maiden, a matron, and an old woman. The
+nearest figure, standing at the right, is the eldest of the three. She
+cannot bear the strain of stooping long at a time, and bends stiffly
+and painfully to her task. Next her is a solidly built woman, with
+square figure and a broad back capable of bearing heavy burdens. Those
+strong large hands have done hard work. The third figure is that of
+a young woman with a lithe, girlish form. With a girl's thought for
+appearance she has pinned her kerchief so that the ends at the back
+form a little cape to shield her neck from the burning sun. Unlike
+her companions, she wears no apron. While the others use their aprons
+doubled up to form sacks for their gleanings, she holds her grain in
+her hand.
+
+If you will try in turn each one of the positions taken by the several
+figures, you will see how differently the three work. The two who put
+the grain in the apron, or pass it into the hand which rests on the
+knee, must every time lift themselves up with an awkward backward
+motion. The younger gleaner has found a short and direct route from
+one hand to the other, by resting the left hand, palm up, upon the
+back, where the right can reach it by a simple upward motion of the
+arm which requires no exertion of the body. Her method saves the
+strength and is more graceful.
+
+Moving forward in the stooping posture, with eyes fixed upon the
+ground, the figures of the gleaners have been compared to great
+grasshoppers, making their odd, irregular, hopping progress across the
+field. Even as we look they seem to move toward us.
+
+The picture is a fine study in lines. The middle figure is constructed
+in a square outline, and this square effect is emphasized in various
+ways,--by the right angle formed between the line across the bust and
+the right arm, by the square corner between chin and neck, and by the
+square shape of the kerchief at the back of the head. We thus get an
+idea of the solid, prosaic character of the woman herself.
+
+The younger woman is a creature of beautiful curves. The lines of her
+back and bust flow together in an oval figure which the position of
+the left arm completes. The outstretched right arm continues the fine
+line across the back. The lovely curve of the throat, the shapeliness
+of the hand, even the pretty adjustment of the kerchief, lend added
+touches to the charm of the youthful figure.
+
+The lines of the standing figure curve towards the other two, and
+carry the composition to sufficient height. The lines enclosing the
+entire group form a mound-like figure not unlike a wheat stack in
+shape. A wheat stack faintly seen across the distance in the centre of
+the field marks the apex of the mound, the sides being formed by the
+outer lines of the two outer figures.
+
+When we compare the picture with the others we have seen in the same
+general style of composition, showing a level plain with figures in
+front, we note how much more detail the background of the Gleaners
+contains. This is because the figures do not come above the horizon
+line, as do those in the Angelus and Shepherdess. Hence the eye must
+be led upward by minor objects, to take in the entire panorama spread
+before us.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: See the Book of Ruth.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Leviticus, chapter xxiii., verse 22.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Deuteronomy, chapter xxiv., verse 19.]
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+THE MILKMAID[1]
+
+
+All through the years of Millet's life and work in Barbizon, his
+thoughts used to turn often to the little village in Normandy where
+he spent his youth. His early life in the fields impressed upon his
+memory all the out-of-door sights peculiar to his native province. The
+customs of peasants in France differ in the various provinces just
+as do ours in the various states. Some of the household utensils in
+Millet's childhood's home were such as he never saw elsewhere,
+and always remembered with pleasure. The ways of doing the work in
+Gréville were not altogether like the ways of Barbizon, and Millet's
+observant eye and retentive memory noted these differences with
+interest. When he revisited his home in later life, he made careful
+sketches of some of the jugs and kitchen utensils used in the family.
+He even carried off to his Barbizon studio one particular brass jar
+which was used when the girl went to the field to milk cows. He also
+sketched a girl carrying a jug of milk on her shoulder in the
+fashion of the place. Out of such studies was made our picture of the
+Milkmaid. "Women in my country carry jars of milk in that way," said
+the painter when explaining the picture to a visitor at his studio,
+and went on to tell of other features of the life in Normandy, which
+he reproduced in his pictures, though some of them he had not seen in
+all the long time since his boyhood. As a reminiscence of Normandy the
+Milkmaid is a companion piece to the Sower. There are other points of
+resemblance between the two pictures, as we shall see.
+
+The day draws to its close in splendor, and the western sky is all
+aflame. Against this brilliant background the figure of the Milkmaid
+looms up grandly as she advances along the path through the meadow.
+She is returning from the field which lies on the other slope of the
+hill. There the cows are pastured and a rude fence marks the boundary.
+The girl has been out for the milking, and a cow near the fence turns
+its head in the direction of her retreating figure.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co, John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE MILKMAID]
+
+The milk is carried in a large jar on the left shoulder. By holding
+the left arm akimbo, hand resting on the hip, the girl makes her
+shoulder a little broader, as it were, enlarging the support of the
+jar. The way in which the burden is kept in place is very interesting.
+To put up the right arm to steady it would be impossible, for the arm
+is not long enough to insure a firm grasp upon so heavy a weight. So
+a cord or strap is passed through the handle of the jar, carried over
+the head, and held in the right hand. The strong arm is stretched
+tense to keep the strap tight. The head must of course be protected
+from the straining of the cord, the shoulder from the pressure of
+the jar. Both are therefore well padded. The head pad resembles a cap
+hanging in lappets on each side. Even with this protection the girl's
+face shows the strain.
+
+A picture like this teaches us that there are other ways of giving
+a figure beauty than by making the face pretty. Just as Millet's
+Shepherdess differs altogether from the little Bopeep of the nursery
+tale, so this peasant girl is not at all like the pretty milkmaids
+who carry milking-stools and shining pails through the pages of the
+picture books. Millet had no patience with such pictures. Pretty girls
+were not fit for hard work, he said, and he always wanted to have the
+people he painted look as if they belonged to their station. Fitness
+was in his mind one of the chief elements of beauty.
+
+So he shows us in this Milkmaid a young woman framed in the massive
+proportions of an Amazon, and eminently fitted for her lot in life.
+Her chief beauty lies in the expression of her splendidly developed
+figure. Her choicest gifts are the health and virtue which most abound
+in the free life of God's country.
+
+  "God made the country, and man made the town.
+  What wonder, then, that health and virtue, gifts
+  That can alone make sweet the bitter draught
+  That life holds out to all, should most abound
+  And least be threatened in the fields and groves."[2]
+
+A study of the lines of the picture will show the artistic beauty of
+the composition. You may trace a long beautiful curve beginning at the
+girl's finger tip and extending along the cord across the top of the
+milk jar. Starting from the same point another good line follows the
+arm and shoulder across the face and along the edge of the jar. At the
+base of the composition we find corresponding lines which may be drawn
+from the toe of the right foot. One follows the diagonal of the path
+and the other runs along the edge of the lifted skirt.
+
+There are other fine lines in the drawing of the bodice and the folds
+of the skirt. Altogether they are as few in number and as strongly
+emphasized, though not so grand, as those of the Sower.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: The title of Water-Carrier has been incorrectly attached
+to this picture, though the sketch on which it is based is properly
+known as the Milkmaid.]
+
+[Footnote 2: From Cowper's _Task_.]
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+THE WOMAN CHURNING
+
+
+Again we are in the picturesque province of Normandy, and are shown
+the interior of a dairy where a woman is busy churning. It is a
+quaint place, with raftered ceiling and stone-paved floor, and the
+furnishings are only such as are required by the work in hand. On some
+wooden shelves against the farther wall are vessels of earthenware and
+metal, to hold cream, cheese, butter, and the like. The churn is one
+of the old-fashioned upright sort, not unlike those used in early New
+England households, and large enough to contain a good many quarts of
+cream. The woman stands beside it, grasping with both hands the handle
+of the dasher, or plunger, which is worked up and down to keep the
+cream in motion and so change it into butter.
+
+In the beginning of the churning process the movement of the dasher
+is slow, so that the cream may be thoroughly mixed. Then it goes more
+rapidly for a time, till, just as the arms grow weary, the butter
+begins to "come," when the speed slackens to the end, the entire
+process occupying thirty or forty minutes. The butter collects in
+yellow lumps, which are at length taken from the churn, washed and
+kneaded to press out the buttermilk, and then moulded into pats. The
+pleasure of the finishing touches makes up for the fatiguing monotony
+of the churning. George Eliot, in the novel of "Adam Bede," gives a
+charming description of Hetty Sorrel's butter-making, with all
+the pretty attitudes and movements of patting and rolling the
+sweet-scented butter into moulds.
+
+We can hardly tell, from the attitude of the woman in our picture, how
+far her work has progressed, but her expression of satisfaction seems
+to show that the butter is "coming" well. The work of butter-making
+varies curiously at different times. Sometimes the butter comes
+quickly and easily, and again, only after long and laborious delays.
+There seems, indeed, no rule about the process; it appears to be all
+a matter of "luck." Country people have always been very superstitious
+in regard to it; and not understanding the true reasons for a
+successful or an unsuccessful churning, they attribute any remarkable
+effects to supernatural agencies.
+
+In the old days of witchcraft superstitions, they used to think that
+when the cream did not readily turn to butter, the churn had been
+tampered with by some witch, like Mabel Martin's mother in Whittier's
+poem. Witches were sometimes supposed to work a baleful charm on the
+milk by putting under the doorsill some magical object, such as a
+picture of a toad or a lizard.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE WOMAN CHURNING]
+
+In Scotland, when churning was easy it was because of the secret help
+of the "brownie." He was a tiny, elf-like creature who lived in the
+barn and was never seen of men; but his presence was made known by
+his many deeds of helpfulness in kitchen and dairy, for which he
+was rewarded by a daily bowl of milk. Those who have read George
+MacDonald's story of Sir Gibbie remember how the little waif from
+the city was mistaken for a brownie because he secretly helped in the
+churning.
+
+In France a pious class of peasants pray to St. Blaise for a blessing
+on their various farm occupations, including the dairy work. A hymn
+written to the saint contains this petition:--
+
+  "In our dairies, curds and cream
+  And fair cheeses may we see:
+  Great St. Blaise, oh, grant our plea."[1]
+
+Some such prayer as this may be running through the mind of the woman
+in our picture. She has the earnest and simple character which belongs
+to the Norman peasant. Hers is a kindly nature, too, and the cat rubs
+familiarly against her as if sure of a friend who has often set a
+saucer of milk in his way. With sleeves rolled up and skirts tucked
+about her, she attacks her work in a strong, capable way which shows
+that it is a pleasure. The light comes from some high window at the
+left, and, gleaming on her arms, shows how firm and hard the flesh is.
+
+We know that this is a Norman peasant woman from her tall cap. There
+are many styles of caps peculiar to different parts of France, but
+those worn in Normandy are remarkable for their height. When some of
+the people of this province emigrated to the western continent and
+settled in Acadia, the land of Evangeline, the women brought their
+caps with them and continued to wear them many years, as we read in
+Longfellow's "Evangeline."
+
+Our previous studies of the other pictures of this collection help us
+to see at once the good points of composition in the Woman Churning.
+The main lines of the group in the foreground form a tall pyramid. The
+shape of the churn gives us the line at the right side, and the figure
+of the cat carries the line of the woman's skirt into a corresponding
+slant on the left. The lines of the tiled floor add to the pyramidal
+effect by converging in perspective. Even the broom leaning against
+the shelf near the door takes the same diagonal direction as the tiles
+of the right side.
+
+We have here also a new illustration of the art of treating inclosed
+spaces.[2] An outlet is given to the room through the door opening
+into the farmyard. Across the yard stands a low cow-shed, in which
+a woman is seated milking a cow. This building, however, does not
+altogether block up the view from the dairy door. Above the roof is a
+strip of sky, and through a square window at the back is seen a bit of
+the meadow.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: From Ronsard's "Hymn to St. Blaise," translated by Henry
+Naegely in _J.F. Millet and Rustic Art_.]
+
+[Footnote 2: See chapters ii. and vi.]
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+THE MAN WITH THE HOE
+
+
+To the peasant farmer every month of the year brings its own labors.
+From seed time to harvest there is a constant succession of different
+tasks, and hardly is the harvest gathered in before it is time to
+prepare again for planting. Before ploughing can be begun the fields
+must first be cleared of stubble and weeds. Now in Millet's village of
+Barbizon, this clearing of the fields was done, in his day, by means
+of an implement called in French a _houe_. Although we translate the
+word as hoe, the tool is quite unlike the American article of that
+name. It looks a little like a carpenter's adze, though much larger
+and heavier, the blade being as broad as that of a shovel. The handle
+is short and the implement is very clumsy and fatiguing to use. Even
+the stoutest peasant finds the work wearisome.
+
+The man in our picture has paused for a moment's rest in this toilsome
+labor, and leans panting on his hoe. In the heat of his toil he has
+thrown off his hat and blouse, which now lie together on the ground
+behind him. His damp hair is matted together on his forehead, his
+brawny chest is exposed by the open shirt, his horny hands are clasped
+over the hoe handle. Some distant object catches his eye. It may be a
+farm wagon moving across the plain, or perhaps a bird flying through
+the clear air. To follow the course of such an object a moment is a
+welcome change from the monotonous rise and fall of the hoe.
+
+It is a rough and uneven field in which the laborer works, rising here
+and there in small hillocks, and thickly overgrown with brambles and
+coarse tufts of herbage. When these weeds are loosened from the soil,
+they are raked in little heaps and burned. In the field just back of
+this is a circle of these bonfires, sending up their columns of smoke
+towards the sky. A young woman is busy raking together the piles. In
+the distance she looks like a priestess of ancient times presiding
+at some mystic rites of fire worship. Far beyond, a shapely tree is
+outlined against the horizon.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE MAN WITH THE HOE]
+
+To study this picture profitably, we must consider separately the
+subject and the artistic qualities. These two elements in a work
+of art are often confused, but are in reality quite distinct. Very
+unpleasant subjects have sometimes been employed in pictures of great
+artistic merit, and again beautiful subjects have sometimes been
+treated very indifferently. When great art is united with a great
+subject, we have ideal perfection; but poor art and a poor subject
+together are intolerable. Now some people think only of the subject
+when they look at a picture, and others, more critical, look only at
+the qualities of art it contains. The best way of all is to try to
+understand something of both.
+
+In the first glance at this picture we do not find the subject very
+attractive. The laborer is awkward, he is stupid looking, and he
+is very weary. If we are to look at laborers, we like to see them
+graceful, intelligent, and active like the Sower. As a redeeming
+quality, the Man with the Hoe has a certain patient dignity which
+commands our respect, but with all that, we do not call it a pleasant
+subject.
+
+But look a moment at the strong, noble outlines of the drawing and see
+how finely modelled is the figure. So carefully did Millet study this
+work that he first modelled the figure in clay that he might give it
+more vitality in the painting. This Man with the Hoe seems indeed not
+a painted figure, but a real living, breathing human being, whom we
+can touch and find of solid flesh and blood.
+
+We must note, too, how grandly the figure is thrown out against
+the sky and the plain. There is something to observe, also, in the
+proportions of the man to the background. The broad pyramid made by
+the bending figure and the hoe needs plenty of space at each side to
+set it off, hence the oblong shape of the picture. These, and other
+artistic qualities not so easily observed and understood, all give the
+picture "a place among the greater artistic conceptions of all time."
+
+The Man with the Hoe has probably caused more discussion than any
+other of Millet's paintings. From the very first those who care only
+for the subject of a picture have condemned it, while the critics have
+praised its artistic qualities. Many have thought that Millet made
+the subject as unpleasant as possible in order to show the degrading
+effects of work. The same theory was suggested when the Sower and
+the Gleaners appeared. The painter himself was much troubled by these
+misunderstandings. "I have never dreamed of being a pleader in any
+cause," he said. He simply painted life as he saw it, and had no
+thought of teaching strange doctrines against labor. Indeed, no man
+ever felt more deeply than he the dignity of labor.
+
+When everything which could be said for or against the picture had
+been exhausted on the other side of the Atlantic, the picture was
+brought to this country and finally to the State of California. Here
+the discussion began all over again. There were those who were so
+impressed by the unpleasant character of the subject that they could
+not find words strong enough to express their horror. The Man with
+the Hoe was called "a monstrous thing distorted and soul-quenched," a
+"dread" and "terrible" shape, "a thing that grieves not and that never
+hopes," a "brother to the ox," and many other things which would have
+surprised and grieved Millet.
+
+Of course, any one to whom the pathos of the subject itself appeals
+so strongly can have little thought for the artistic qualities of the
+picture. So Edwin Markham, the writer of the poem from which
+these expressions are quoted, lets the subject lead him on into an
+impassioned protest against "the degradation of labor,--the oppression
+of man by man,"--all of which has nothing to do with the picture.
+
+Millet was not one to care at all for what he called "pretty"
+subjects, as we have already seen in studying the picture of the
+Milkmaid. "He felt that only by giving to his figures the expression
+and character which belonged to their condition could he obey the laws
+of beauty in art, for he knew that a work of art is beautiful only
+when it is homogeneous."[1]
+
+This was the theory which he put into practice in the Man with the
+Hoe, and one who understands well both his theories and his art sums
+up the great painting in these words: "The noble proportions of the
+figure alone would give this work a place among the greater artistic
+conceptions of all time, while the severe and simple pathos of this
+moment of respite in the interminable earth struggle, invests it with
+a sublimity which belongs to eternal things alone." [2]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Pierre Millet in the _Century_.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Henry Naegely.]
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+THE PORTRAIT OF MILLET
+
+
+In studying the works of any great painter many questions naturally
+arise as to the personality of the man himself and the influences
+which shaped his life. Some such questions have already been answered
+as we have examined these fifteen pictures by Millet. Jean François
+Millet, we have learned, was of peasant parentage and spent the
+greater part of his life in the country. His pious Norman ancestors
+bequeathed him a rich heritage of strong and serious traits. From
+them, too, he drew that patience and perseverance which helped him to
+overcome so many obstacles in his career.
+
+In the surroundings of his childhood he saw no pictures and heard
+nothing of art or artists. Yet at a very early age he showed a
+remarkable talent for drawing. His artistic temperament was inherited
+from his father, who was a great lover of music and of everything
+beautiful. "Look," he sometimes said, plucking a blade of grass
+and showing it to his little boy, "how beautiful this is." His
+grandmother, too, had a true poetic vein in her nature. She would come
+to the child's bedside in the morning, calling, "Wake up, my little
+François, you don't know how long the birds have been singing the
+glory of God." In such a family the youth's gifts were readily
+recognized, and he was sent to Cherbourg, the nearest large town,
+to learn to be a painter. Here, and later in Paris, he received
+instruction from various artists, but his greatest teacher was Nature.
+So he turned from the schools of Paris, and the artificial standards
+of his fellow artists there, to study for himself, at first hand, the
+peasant life he wished to portray. What a delightful place Barbizon
+was for such work we have seen from some of his pictures.
+
+It was during the fruitful years of work at Barbizon that Millet
+made the crayon portrait of himself which is reproduced as our
+frontispiece. He was a large, strong, deep-chested man, somewhat above
+the medium height. An admirer has described him as "one of nature's
+noblemen," and his younger brother Pierre says he was "built like
+a Hercules." He had an inherent distaste for fine clothes which he
+showed even in boyhood. When he grew to be a painter, and returned to
+visit his family in Gréville, the villagers were scandalized to see
+the city artist appear in their streets in blouse and sabots.
+
+As we see in the portrait, Millet had long wavy hair, falling over
+his shoulders, and a thick black beard. His forehead was high and
+intelligent, and his nose delicately cut and sensitive. His eyes were
+gray-blue, of the kind which look a man through and through and which
+nothing escapes. The artist had so trained these wonderful eyes of his
+that he had only to turn them on a scene to photograph the impression
+indelibly on his memory.
+
+The face that we see in the portrait is that of a thinker, a poet, and
+an artist. It is the face of one who held intimate converse with the
+great poets of the ages, of one whose favorite books were the Bible,
+Virgil, Theocritus and Shakespeare. Though Millet had many genial
+traits in his nature, his expression here is profoundly serious. Such
+an expression tells much of the inner life of the man. His pictures
+were too original to be popular at once, and while he waited for
+purchasers he found it hard to support his family. His anxieties wore
+upon his health, and he was subject to frequent headaches of frightful
+severity. Nor was the struggle with poverty his only trial. He had to
+contend constantly against the misconceptions and misrepresentations
+of hostile critics.
+
+He was of too stern a nature and too loyal to his ideals to vary a
+hair's breadth from his course, yet criticism embittered him. "Give me
+signboards to paint, if you will," he exclaimed, "but at least let
+me think out my subjects in my own fashion and finish the work that I
+have to do, in peace."
+
+Like all who have great originality, Millet lived in a world of his
+own, and had but a few congenial friends. To such friends, however,
+and in the inner circle of his home, he opened his great and tender
+heart, and all who knew him loved him.
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13119 ***
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+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13119 ***</div>
+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Jean Francois Millet, by Estelle M. Hurll</h1>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr class="full" noshade>
+<br>
+<center><a name="selfportrait"><img src="images/selfportrait.jpg"
+alt="JEAN FRAN&Ccedil;OIS MILLET"></a></center>
+
+<center>The Riverside Art Series</center>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h1>JEAN FRAN&Ccedil;OIS MILLET</h1>
+
+<h2>A COLLECTION OF FIFTEEN PICTURES<br>
+AND A PORTRAIT OF THE PAINTER<br>
+WITH INTRODUCTION AND<br>
+INTERPRETATION</h2>
+
+<h3>BY</h3>
+
+<h2>ESTELLE M. HURLL</h2>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h4>1900</h4>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<h2>PREFACE</h2>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>In making a selection of Millet's pictures, devoted as they are
+to the single theme of French peasant life, variety of subject can
+be obtained only by showing as many phases of that life as
+possible. Our illustrations therefore represent both men and women
+working separately in the tasks peculiar to each, and working
+together in the labors shared between them. There are in addition a
+few pictures of child life.</p>
+
+<p>The selections include a study of the field, the dooryard, and
+the home interior, and range from the happiest to the most sombre
+subjects. They show also considerable variety in artistic motive
+and composition, and taken together fairly represent the scope of
+Millet's work.</p>
+
+<p>ESTELLE M. HURLL.</p>
+
+<p>NEW BEDFORD, MASS.</p>
+
+<p>March, 1900.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<h2>CONTENTS AND LIST OF PICTURES</h2>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3">
+<p><a href="#selfportrait">PORTRAIT OF MILLET. DRAWN BY
+HIMSELF</a></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3">INTRODUCTION</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td>I.</td>
+<td><a href="#character">ON MILLET'S CHARACTER AS AN ARTIST</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td>II.</td>
+<td><a href="#reference">ON BOOKS OF REFERENCE</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td>III.</td>
+<td><a href="#directory">HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF THE PICTURES OF
+THIS COLLECTION</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td>IV.</td>
+<td><a href="#outlinetable">OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS
+IN MILLET'S LIFE</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td>V.</td>
+<td><a href="#associates">SOME OF MILLET'S ASSOCIATES</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>I.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#goingtowork">GOING TO WORK</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>II.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#theknittinglesson">THE KNITTING
+LESSON</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>III.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#thepotatoplanters">THE POTATO
+PLANTERS</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>IV.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#thewomansewingbylamplight">THE WOMAN
+SEWING BY LAMPLIGHT</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>V.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#theshepherdess">THE SHEPHERDESS</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>VI.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#thewomanfeedinghens">THE WOMAN FEEDING
+HENS</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>VII.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#theangelus">THE ANGELUS</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>VIII.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#fillingthewaterbottles">FILLING THE
+WATER-BOTTLES</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>IX.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#feedingherbirds">FEEDING HER BIRDS</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>X.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#thechurchatgreville">THE CHURCH AT
+GR&Eacute;VILLE</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>XI.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#thesower">THE SOWER</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>XII.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#thegleaners">THE GLEANERS</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>XIII.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#themilkmaid">THE MILKMAID</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>XIV.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#thewomanchurning">THE WOMAN CHURNING</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>XV.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#themanwiththehoe">THE MAN WITH THE
+HOE</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>XVI.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#theportraitofmillet">THE PORTRAIT OF
+MILLET</a> </td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>NOTE: All the pictures were made from carbon prints by Braun,
+Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<h2>INTRODUCTION</h2>
+
+<a name="character"></a>
+<h3>I. ON MILLET'S CHARACTER AS AN ARTIST</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>The distinctive features of Millet's art are so marked that the
+most inexperienced observer easily identifies his work. As a
+painter of rustic subjects, he is unlike any other artists who have
+entered the same field, even those who have taken his own themes.
+We get at the heart of the matter when we say that Millet derived
+his art directly from nature. "If I could only do what I like," he
+said, "I would paint nothing that was not the result of an
+impression directly received from nature, whether in landscape or
+in figure." His pictures are convincing evidence that he acted upon
+this theory. They have a peculiar quality of genuineness beside
+which all other rustic art seems forced and artificial.</p>
+
+<p>The human side of life touched him most deeply, and in many of
+his earlier pictures, landscape was secondary. Gradually he grew
+into the larger conception of a perfect harmony between man and his
+environment. Henceforth landscape ceased to be a mere setting or
+background in a figure picture, and became an organic part of the
+composition. As a critic once wrote of the Shepherdess, "the earth
+and sky, the scene and the actors, all answer one another, all hold
+together, belong together." The description applies equally well to
+many other pictures and particularly to the Angelus, the Sower, and
+the Gleaners. In all these, landscape and figure are
+interdependent, fitting together in a perfect unity.</p>
+
+<p>As a painter of landscapes, Millet mastered a wide range of the
+effects of changing light during different hours of the day. The
+mists of early morning in Filling the Water-Bottles; the glare of
+noonday in the Gleaners; the sunset glow in the Angelus and the
+Shepherdess; the sombre twilight of the Sower; and the glimmering
+lamplight of the Woman Sewing, each found perfect interpretation.
+Though showing himself capable of representing powerfully the more
+violent aspects of nature, he preferred as a rule the normal and
+quiet.</p>
+
+<p>In figure painting Millet sought neither grace nor beauty, but
+expression. That he regarded neither of these first two qualities
+as intrinsically unworthy, we may infer from the grace of the
+Sower, and the na&iuml;ve beauty of the Shepherdess and the Woman
+Sewing. But that expression was of paramount interest to him we see
+clearly in the Angelus and the Man with the Hoe. The leading
+characteristic of his art is strength, and he distrusted the
+ordinary elements of prettiness as taking something from the total
+effect he wished to produce. "Let no one think that they can force
+me to prettify my types," he said. "I would rather do nothing than
+express myself feebly."</p>
+
+<p>It was always his first aim to make his people look as if they
+belonged to their station. The "mute inglorious Milton" and Maud
+Muller with her "nameless longings" had no place on his canvases.
+His was the genuine peasant of field and farm, no imaginary denizen
+of the poets' Arcady. "The beautiful is the fitting," was his final
+summary of &aelig;sthetic theory, and the theory was put into
+practice on every canvas.</p>
+
+<p>In point of composition Millet's pictures have great excellence.
+"I try not to have things look as if chance brought them together,"
+he said, "but as if they had a necessary bond between them." So
+nothing is accidental, but every object, however small, is an
+indispensable part of the whole scheme.</p>
+
+<p>An important characteristic of his work is its power to suggest
+the third dimension of space. The figures have a solid, tangible
+appearance, as if actually alive. The Gleaners, the Woman Churning,
+and the Man with the Hoe are thoroughly convincing in their
+reality.</p>
+
+<p>The picture of the Gleaners especially has that so-called
+"quality of circumambient light" which circulates about the
+objects, so to speak, and gives them position in space. Millet's
+landscapes also have a depth of spaciousness which reaches into
+infinite distance. The principles of composition are applied in
+perspective as well as laterally. We can look into the picture,
+through it, and beyond it, as if we were standing in the presence
+of nature.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Bernhard Berenson goes so far as to say that this art of
+"space composition," as he terms it, can "directly communicate
+religious emotion," and explains on this ground the devotional
+influence of Perugino's works, which show so remarkable a feeling
+for space.<a name='FNanchor_1_1'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_1_1'><sup>[1]</sup></a> If he is right, it is on this
+principle, rather than because of its subject, that the Angelus is,
+as it has sometimes been called, "one of the greatest religious
+paintings of the age."</p>
+
+<p>While Millet's art is, in its entirety, quite unique, there are
+certain interesting points of resemblance between his work and that
+of some older masters. He is akin to Rembrandt both in his
+indifference to beauty and in his intense love of human nature.
+Millet's indifference to beauty is the more remarkable because in
+this he stood alone in his day and generation, while in the
+northern art of the seventeenth century, of which Rembrandt is an
+exponent, beauty was never supreme.</p>
+
+<p>As a lover of human nature, Millet's sympathies, though no less
+intense than Rembrandt's, were less catholic. His range of
+observation was limited to peasant life, while the Dutch master
+painted all classes and conditions of men. Yet both alike were
+profound students of character and regarded expression as the chief
+element of beauty. Rembrandt, however, sought expression
+principally in the countenance, and Millet had a fuller
+understanding of the expressiveness of the entire body. The work of
+each thus complements that of the other.</p>
+
+<p>Millet's passion for figure expression was first worked out in
+painting the nude. When he abandoned such subjects for the homelier
+themes of labor, he gave no less attention to the study of form and
+attitude. The simple clothing of the peasant is cut so loosely as
+to give entire freedom of motion to the body, and it is worn so
+long that it shapes itself perfectly to the figure. The body thus
+clad is scarcely inferior to the nude in assuming the fine lines of
+an expressive pose.</p>
+
+<p>Millet's instinct for pose was that of a sculptor. Many of the
+figures for his pictures were first carefully modelled in wax or
+clay. Transferred to canvas they are drawn in the strong simple
+outlines of a statue. It is no extravagant flight of fancy which
+has likened him to Michelangelo. In the strength and seriousness of
+his conceptions, the bold sweep of his lines, and, above all, in
+the impression of motion which he conveys, he has much in common
+with the great Italian master. Like Michelangelo, Millet gives
+first preference to the dramatic moment when action is imminent.
+The Sower is in the act of casting the seed into the ground, as
+David is in the act of stretching his sling. As we look, we seem to
+see the hand complete its motion. So also the Gleaners, the Women
+Filling the Water-Bottles, and the Potato Planters are all
+portrayed in attitudes of performance.</p>
+
+<p>When Millet represents repose it is as an interval of suspended
+action, not as the end of completed work. The Shepherdess pauses
+but a moment in her walk and will immediately move on again. The
+man and woman of the Angelus rest only for the prayer and then
+resume their work. The Man with the Hoe snatches but a brief
+respite from his labors. The impression of power suggested by his
+figure, even in immobility, recalls Michelangelo's Jeremiah.</p>
+
+<p>To the qualities which are reminiscent of Michelangelo Millet
+adds another in which he is allied to the Greeks. This is his
+tendency towards generalization. It is the typical rather than the
+individual which he strives to present. "My dream," he once wrote,
+"is to characterize the type." So his figures, like those of Greek
+sculpture, reproduce no particular model, but are the general type
+deduced from the study of many individuals.</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<a name='Footnote_1_1'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_1'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>In <i>Central Italian Painters of the Renaissance</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='reference'></a>
+<h3>II. ON BOOKS OF REFERENCE</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>Since the death of Millet, in 1875, much that is interesting and
+valuable has been written of his life and work. The first biography
+of the painter was that by his friend Sensier, in a large
+illustrated volume whose contents have been made familiar to
+English readers by an abridged translation published in this
+country simultaneously with the issue of the French edition.
+Containing all the essential facts of Millet's outward life,
+besides a great number of the artist's letters, together with his
+autobiographical reminiscences of childhood, Sensier's work is the
+principal source of information, from which all later writers draw.
+Yet it is not an altogether fair and satisfactory presentation of
+Millet's life. Undue emphasis is laid upon his struggles with
+poverty, and the book leaves much to be desired.</p>
+
+<p>Julia Cartwright's recent work, "Jean Fran&ccedil;ois Millet:
+His Life and Letters," is founded on Sensier's life, yet rounds out
+the study of the master's character and work with the fuller
+knowledge with which family and friends have described his
+career.</p>
+
+<p>Another recent book called "J.F. Millet and Rustic Art" is by
+Henry Naegely (published in England), and is critical rather than
+biographical in purport. It is a sympathetic appreciation of
+Millet's art and character, and grows out of a careful study of the
+painter's works and an intimate connection with the Millet
+family.</p>
+
+<p>Besides these books devoted exclusively to the subject, the life
+work of Millet is admirably sketched in brief form in the following
+more general works:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Richard Muther's "History of Modern Painting," Mrs. Stranahan's
+"History of French Painting," Rose G. Kingsley's "History of French
+Art," and D.C. Thomson's "Barbizon School."</p>
+
+<p>Of great importance to the student of Millet are the various
+articles contributed to the magazines by those who knew and
+understood the painter. The following are of special note: By
+Edward W. Wheelwright, in "The Atlantic Monthly," September, 1876;
+by Wyatt Eaton, in the "Century," May, 1889; by T.H. Bartlett, in
+"Scribner's," May and June, 1890; by Pierre Millet, in "Century,"
+January, 1893, and April, 1894; and by Will Low, in "McClure's,"
+May, 1896. Julia Cartwright, in the preface to the above mentioned
+biography, mentions other magazine articles not so generally
+accessible.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='directory'></a>
+<h3>III. HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF THE PICTURES OF THIS
+COLLECTION</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p><i>Portrait frontispiece</i>, a life-size crayon made by Millet
+in 1847 and given to his friend Charlier. It afterwards became the
+property of Sensier.</p>
+
+<p>1. <i>Going to Work</i>, one of several versions of the subject
+in different mediums, oil, pastel, drawing, and etching. This
+picture was painted in 1851, and was at one time (1891) in a
+private collection in Glasgow.<a name='FNanchor_1_2'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_1_2'><sup>[1]</sup></a> It is to be distinguished from
+the picture of 1850, where the woman carries a pitcher instead of a
+rope.<a name='FNanchor_2_3'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_2_3'><sup>[2]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>2. <i>The Knitting Lesson</i>, a drawing corresponding in
+general composition, with some changes of detail, to the small
+painting (17 by 14-1/2 in.) of the subject in the collection of
+Mrs. Martin Brimmer, in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.</p>
+
+<p>3. <i>The Potato Planters</i>, painted in 1862, and exhibited at
+the great exhibition at Paris of that year, also again in 1867 at
+the International Exhibition. It changed hands for large sums
+during the painter's lifetime, and is now in the Quincy A. Shaw
+collection, Boston, Mass.</p>
+
+<p>4. <i>The Woman Sewing by Lamplight</i>, painted in 1872, and
+sold in 1873 for 38,500 francs, the highest price at that time ever
+paid for one of Millet's works.</p>
+
+<p>5. <i>The Shepherdess</i>, painted in 1862, and exhibited at the
+Salon of 1864, also again at the Exposition Universelle of 1867. It
+is now in the collection of M. Chauchard.</p>
+
+<p>6. <i>The Woman Feeding Hens</i>, a charcoal sketch,
+corresponding in general composition to the description of a
+painting bearing the same name, which was painted in 1854 for M.
+Letr&ocirc;ne for 2000 francs.</p>
+
+<p>7. <i>The Angelus</i>, an oil painting measuring 25 by 21 in.
+The first drawing for the picture was sold February, 1858. The
+painting was completed for exhibition in the Salon of 1859. It was
+declined by the patron for whom it was intended, and finally sold
+to a Belgian artist in 1860, and soon afterwards to the Belgian
+minister. The original price was 2000 francs. The picture passed
+from one owner to another, and in 1873 was bought by J.W. Wilson
+for 50,000 francs, later bringing at the Wilson sale of 1881 the
+sum of &pound;6400. In an auction sale of the Secr&eacute;tan
+collection, July, 1889, there was an immense excitement over the
+contest between the French government, represented by M. Proust,
+Director of Fine Arts, and various American dealers, who were
+determined to win the prize. It was finally knocked down to M.
+Proust for 553,000 francs, but the French government refused to
+ratify the purchase, and the picture was brought to the United
+States. Here the customs duty exacted was so enormous (&pound;7000)
+that the picture remained only six months (the duty being waived
+during that period), and after being exhibited throughout the
+country finally returned to France, where it was purchased for
+&pound;32,000 by M. Chauchard, who has the finest collection of
+Millets in existence.</p>
+
+<p>8. <i>Filling the Water-Bottles</i>, a charcoal drawing, which
+attracted much attention when exhibited in the Millet collection of
+the Paris Exposition, 1889.</p>
+
+<p>9. <i>Feeding Her Birds</i>, painted in 1860, and exhibited in
+Salon of 1861. Presented by a purchaser to the Museum of Lille in
+1871.</p>
+
+<p>10. <i>The Church at Gr&eacute;ville</i>, sketched during
+Millet's visit at Gr&eacute;ville in the summer of 1871; referred
+to by him, in a letter of 1872, as still in process of painting;
+found in his studio at the time of his death, in 1875. The picture
+was bought by the French government, and is now in the Louvre,
+Paris.</p>
+
+<p>11. <i>The Sower</i>, the second painting of the subject,
+painted in 1850, and exhibited in the Salon of 1850-51. It is now
+in the Vanderbilt collection, New York.</p>
+
+<p>A pencil sketch of the Sower is in the collection of Millet's
+drawings, at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.<a name=
+'FNanchor_3_4'></a><a href='#Footnote_3_4'><sup>[3]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>12. <i>The Gleaners</i>, a painting first exhibited at the Salon
+of 1867. It was sold to M. Binder of l'Isle Adam for 2000 francs.
+In 1889 it was purchased by Madame Pommeroy for 300,000 francs, and
+presented to the Louvre, Paris. A pencil drawing of the three
+figures is in the collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.</p>
+
+<p>13. <i>The Milkmaid</i>, painted in 1871 from a sketch made in
+Gr&eacute;ville. Seen in Millet's studio in 1873 by Will Low, the
+American artist.</p>
+
+<p>14. <i>The Woman Churning</i>, one of several versions of the
+subject, the first of which appeared in 1870.</p>
+
+<p>15. <i>The Man with the Hoe</i>, painted in 1862 and exhibited
+at the Salon of 1863. Sold to a Belgian collector, and long in
+Brussels. It is now owned by Mr. W.S. Crocker of San Francisco,
+Cal.</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+ <a name='Footnote_1_2'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_2'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>See D.C. Thomson's <i>Barbizon School</i>, pp. 226, 227.</p>
+</div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_2_3'></a><a href='#FNanchor_2_3'>[2]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>See Julia Cartwright, <i>Life and Letters of Jean
+Fran&ccedil;ois Millet</i>, pp. 114,115.</p>
+</div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_3_4'></a><a href='#FNanchor_3_4'>[3]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>This is one of an interesting collection of drawings in this
+museum, which also contains several original paintings by Millet, a
+Shepherdess, seated, a portrait of the painter, and others. Other
+fine Millets are in the private collections of Boston, where the
+painter received early appreciation, owing to the enthusiasm of
+William Morris Hunt, the painter, and such connoisseurs as Mr.
+Quincy Shaw and Mr. Brimmer.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='outlinetable'></a>
+<h3>IV. OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN MILLET'S LIFE</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td>1814.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Millet born, October 4, in hamlet of Gruchy, commune of
+Gr&eacute;ville, in the old province of Normandy, France.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1832.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Two months' study with Mouchel in Cherbourg.</li>
+
+<li>Death of Millet's father.</li>
+
+<li>Study with Langlois in Cherbourg.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1837.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Removal to Paris, supported by annuity of 400 francs from the
+municipality of Cherbourg.<a name='FNanchor_1_5'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_1_5'><sup>[1]</sup></a></li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1837-1839 (?).</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Studies with Delaroche.<a name='FNanchor_2_6'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_2_6'><sup>[2]</sup></a></li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1840.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>A portrait of M.L.F. exhibited at Salon of the Louvre.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1841.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Portrait of Mademoiselle Antoinette Feuardent.</li>
+
+<li>Marriage with Mademoiselle Pauline Virginie Ono in
+Cherbourg.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1842.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Returned to Paris.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1844.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Millet exhibited at Salon: the Milkmaid, the Riding
+Lesson.</li>
+
+<li>Death of Millet's wife, April 21, and Millet's return home for
+18 months.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1845.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Marriage with Catherine Lemaire late in summer, in
+Gr&eacute;ville.</li>
+
+<li>Visit in Havre in November.</li>
+
+<li>Arrival in Paris in December, and residence in the rue
+Rochehouart.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1847.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Oedipus taken from the Tree exhibited at the Salon.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1848.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Millet exhibited at the Salon the Winnower, bought by M.</li>
+
+<li>Ledru-Rollin for 500 francs, and the Captivity of the Jews in
+Babylon.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1849.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Removal to Barbizon.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1850.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>The Sower painted and exhibited at the Salon with the Sheaf
+Binders.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1851.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Death of Millet's grandmother, Louise Jumelin, at Gruchy.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1853.</td>
+<td colspan="2">
+<ul>
+<li>Death of Millet's mother at Gruchy.</li>
+
+<li>Millet exhibited at the Salon:</li>
+</ul>
+
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Ruth and Boaz,</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+<td>bought by an American.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>The Sheep Shearer,</li>
+
+<li>The Shepherd,</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+<td>bought by William Morris Hunt</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1854.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Visit four months to the surroundings of the old home in
+Normandy.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1855.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>The Grafter, exhibited at the Salon.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1856.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Le Pare aux Moutons painted.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1857.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>The Gleaners exhibited at the Salon.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1859.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>The Angelus exhibited at the Salon.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1860-1861.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>The Shepherd in the Fold by Moonlight, and the Femme aux
+Seaux.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1861.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>The Potato Planters painted.</li>
+
+<li>Millet exhibited at the Salon of the Champs
+Elys&egrave;es:</li>
+</ul>
+
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Feeding Her Birds.</li>
+
+<li>Waiting.</li>
+
+<li>The Sheep Shearer.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1862.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>List of pictures painted:&mdash;</li>
+</ul>
+
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Winter.</li>
+
+<li>The Crows.</li>
+
+<li>Sheep Feeding.</li>
+
+<li>The Wool Carder.</li>
+
+<li>The Stag.</li>
+
+<li>The Birth of the Calf.</li>
+
+<li>The Shepherdess.</li>
+
+<li>The Man with the Hoe.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1863.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Millet sent to Salon: Man with the Hoe, The Wool Carder (see
+list of works in 1862), and a Shepherd bringing Home his
+Sheep.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1864.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Millet exhibited at the Salon: The Shepherdess, and The Birth
+of the Calf (see list of works in 1862).</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1865.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>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.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1866.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Short visit to Vichy, Auvergne, Clermont, Issoire.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1867.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Millet exhibited at the Exposition Universelle (International
+Exhibition):&mdash;</li>
+</ul>
+
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Death and the Woodcutter (refused by the Salon of 1859).</li>
+
+<li>The Gleaners.</li>
+
+<li>The Shepherdess.</li>
+
+<li>The Sheep Shearer.</li>
+
+<li>The Shepherd.</li>
+
+<li>The Sheep Fold.</li>
+
+<li>The Potato Planters.</li>
+
+<li>The Potato Harvest.</li>
+
+<li>The Angelus.</li>
+
+<li>Visit to Vichy in June.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1867-69.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>The Pig Killers.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1868.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Millet made Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, August 13.</li>
+
+<li>Journey with Sensier in Alsace and Switzerland, September.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1870.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Millet elected, March 24, juror for coming exposition.</li>
+
+<li>The Woman Churning exhibited at the Salon.</li>
+
+<li>Departure for Gr&eacute;ville on account of danger of remaining
+in Barbizon during the war.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1871.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Return to Barbizon November 7.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1874.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Order from Administration of Beaux Arts for mural decorations
+in the Panth&eacute;on (Ste. Genevi&egrave;ve), Paris.</li>
+
+<li>The Priory painted.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1875.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Death of Millet, January 20, at Barbizon.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<a name='Footnote_1_5'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_5'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>To this was added later 600 francs from the General Council of
+La Manche, but both annuities were soon discontinued.</p>
+</div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_2_6'></a><a href='#FNanchor_2_6'>[2]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>The exact date of Millet's severing connection with Delaroche is
+not mentioned by his biographers, though the circumstances are
+detailed.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='associates'></a>
+<h3>V. SOME OF MILLET'S ASSOCIATES</h3>
+
+<br>
+ <b>Companions in the studio of Delaroche:&mdash;</b><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Charles Fran&ccedil;ois
+H&eacute;bert (1817- ).</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Jalabert (1819- ).</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Thomas Couture
+(1815-1879).</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Edouard Fr&egrave;re
+(1819-1886).</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Adolphe Yvon (1817- ).</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Antigna (1818-1878).</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Prosper Louis Roux (1817-
+).</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Marolle.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Cavalier, sculptor.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Gendron (1817-1881).</span><br>
+<br>
+<b>Friends and neighbors in Paris:&mdash;</b><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Couture (also fellow student in
+studio of Delaroche).</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Tourneaux (1809-1867), painter and
+poet.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Diaz (1808-1876), landscape
+painter.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Joseph Guichard (1836-1877), marine
+painter.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Charles Jacque (1813- ),
+etcher.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Campr&eacute;don.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>S&eacute;chan, clever scene
+painter.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Di&eacute;terle, clever scene
+painter.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Eug&egrave;ne Lacoste.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Azev&eacute;do, musical
+critic.</span><br>
+<br>
+<b>Friends at Barbizon:&mdash;</b><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Charles Jacque (who removed thither
+with him).</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Diaz (also a friend of the Paris
+days).</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Corot (1796-1875).</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Theodore Rousseau
+(1812-1867).</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Laure (1806-1861).</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>William Morris Hunt, American
+painter.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Mr. Hearn, American
+painter.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Mr. Babcock, American
+painter.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Edward Wheelwright, American
+painter.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Wyatt Eaton, American
+painter.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Will Low, American
+painter.</span><br>
+
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='goingtowork'></a>
+<h2>I</h2>
+
+<h3>GOING TO WORK</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>To this Norman peasant stock belonged Jean Fran&ccedil;ois
+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 Gr&eacute;ville, 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 illustrating 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 fashioned.</p>
+
+<p>In France the farm labors are shared by men and women alike. The
+peasant woman is sturdily 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.</p>
+
+<img src="images/goingtowork.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co. John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc. GOING TO WORK"
+ align="left">
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>They are dressed for their work in clothing which is plain and
+coarse, but which is perfectly suited for the purpose. The French
+peasants' working clothes are usually of strong homespun cloth,
+fashioned 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.</p>
+
+<p>The men wear soft felt hats, the brim of which can be pulled
+forward to shade the eyes. The women cover their heads neatly with
+caps or kerchiefs, and are nearly always seen with aprons. Men and
+women both wear the heavy wooden shoes called <i>sabots</i>, in
+which the feet suffer no pressure as from leather shoes, and are
+protected against the moisture of the ground.</p>
+
+<p>The peasants of our picture carry all they need for the day's
+work. A three-pronged fork rests across the man's shoulder, and a
+wallet of lunch hangs from his left arm. The woman has a basket, a
+linen sack, and a bit of rope. Evidently something is to be brought
+home. Just now she has swung the empty basket up over her shoulders
+and it covers her head like a huge sunbonnet.</p>
+
+<p>The two young people are full of the healthy vigor which makes
+work a pleasure. They go cheerfully to their day's task as if they
+really enjoyed it. We cannot help suspecting that they are lovers.
+The man carries himself erect with a conscious air of manliness,
+and steps briskly, with his hand thrust into his pocket. The girl
+hides her shyness in the shadow of the basket as she turns her face
+towards his. The two swing along buoyantly, keeping step as if
+accustomed to walking together.</p>
+
+<p>At the close of the day's work the basket and sack will be
+filled, and the laborers will return to their home by the same way.
+The burden may be heavy, but they will bear it as the reward of
+their toil.</p>
+
+<p>The picture of Going to Work was painted at about the same
+time<a name='FNanchor_1_7'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_1_7'><sup>[1]</sup></a> as the The Sower, which forms
+one of the later illustrations of our collection. A comparison of
+the pictures will show interesting points of resemblance between
+the two men striding down hill. Though Going to Work is not as a
+work of art of equal rank with The Sower, we get in both pictures a
+delightful sense of motion which makes the figures seem actually
+alive.</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+ <a name='Footnote_1_7'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_7'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>That is, within a year. See dates in the <i>Historical
+Directory</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='theknittinglesson'></a>
+<h2>II</h2>
+
+<h3>THE KNITTING LESSON</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>In the picture we have been examining we have seen something of
+the outdoor life of the French peasants, and now we are shown the
+interior of one of their houses, where a Knitting Lesson is being
+given. The girls of the French peasantry are taught only the
+plainest kinds of needlework. They have to begin to make themselves
+useful very early in life, and knitting is a matter of special
+importance. In these large families many pairs of stockings are
+needed, and all must be homemade. This is work which the little
+girls can do while the mother is busy with heavier labors. The
+knitting work becomes a girl's constant companion, and there are
+few moments when her hands are idle.</p>
+
+<img src="images/theknittinglesson.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc. THE KNITTING LESSON"
+ align="left">
+
+<p>The little girl in our picture is still a beginner in the art,
+and the lesson is a very exciting occasion to her. Already she
+feels like a woman.</p>
+
+<p>The mother and daughter have their chairs by the window to get a
+good light on the work. It is a large and beautiful casement
+window, of the kind almost universal in France, opening lengthwise
+in the middle in two parts which swing on hinges like doors. The
+window seat serves as a table, to hold the basket and scissors. The
+doll is thrust into the corner; our little girl has "put away
+childish things"&mdash;at least for the moment,&mdash;and takes her
+task very seriously.</p>
+
+<p>The two chairs are drawn close together, the one a small
+counterpart of the other. The child braces her feet firmly on one
+of the rounds and bends her whole mind to her work. Both mother and
+daughter wear close white caps, though the little girl's is of a
+more childish pattern and does not cover her pretty hair in
+front.</p>
+
+<p>The mother has been sewing on some large garment which lies
+across her lap. She lets the little girl work by herself for a
+time, and then stops to set her right. Already a considerable
+length of stocking has been made, but this is a place where close
+attention is needed. Perhaps it is time to begin shaping the heel.
+The mother's work is left altogether for a moment. Putting her arm
+about the child's shoulder, she takes the two little hands in hers,
+and guides the fingers holding the needles.</p>
+
+<p>We get some idea of the quaint style of the building from this
+glimpse of the living-room. Probably it is a low stone cottage with
+thatched or tiled roof. The deep window seat shows how thick the
+walls are. Overhead we see the oak rafters.</p>
+
+<p>The room looks spotlessly clean, as a good housewife's should.
+Though we see only a corner, that corner holds the most precious
+household possession, the linen chest. It stands against the wall,
+and is of generous size. French country people take great pride in
+storing up a quantity of linen; tablecloths, sheets, shirts,
+pillowcases, often of their own weaving, are piled in the deep
+clothes-presses. In well-to-do families there are enough for six
+months' use, the family washing taking place only twice a year, in
+spring and fall, like house-cleaning in America. We judge that our
+housekeeper is well provided, by the pile of neatly folded sheets
+on the press. The little clock, high on the wall, and the vase of
+flowers on the chest are the only touches of ornament in the room.
+On the wall are some small objects which look like shuttles for
+weaving.</p>
+
+<p>As we look at the picture we feel sure that Millet was a lover
+of children, and it is pleasant to know that he had many of his
+own. The artist father was his children's favorite playmate, and at
+the close of his day's work in his studio, they ran to meet him
+with shouts of joy. He used to like to walk about the garden with
+them showing them the flowers. In winter time they sat together by
+the fire, and the father sang songs and drew pictures for the
+little ones. Sometimes taking a log from the wood basket he would
+carve a doll out of it, and paint the cheeks with vermilion. This
+is the sort of doll we see on the window seat in our picture.</p>
+
+<p>Ruskin tells us that a true artist feels like a caged bird in
+painting any enclosed space, unless it contains some opening like a
+door or window. No amount of beauty will content us, he says, if we
+are shut in to that alone. Our picture is a good proof of this
+principle. We can easily fancy how different the effect would be
+without the window: the room would appear almost like a prisoner's
+cell. As it is, the great window suggests the out-of-door world
+into which it opens, and gives us a sense of larger space.</p>
+
+<p>Our illustration is taken from a drawing. Millet was a
+painstaking artist who made many drawings and studies for his
+paintings. This is probably such a study, as there is also a
+painting by him of the same subject very similar to this.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='thepotatoplanters'></a>
+<h2>III</h2>
+
+<h3>THE POTATO PLANTERS</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>In the picture called The Potato Planters we are reminded at
+once of the peasants we have already seen in Going to Work. We see
+here married people a few years older than the young people of the
+other picture working together in the fields.</p>
+
+<p>It may be that this is their own little plot of ground, for they
+work with a certain air of proprietorship. They look prosperous,
+too, and are somewhat better dressed than common laborers. It is
+the highest ambition of the French peasant to own a bit of land. He
+will make any sacrifice to get it, and possessing it, is well
+content. He labors with constant industry to make it yield
+well.</p>
+
+<p>The field here is at quite a distance from the village where the
+workers live. We can see the little group of houses on the horizon.
+In France the agricultural classes do not build their
+dwelling-houses on their farms, but live instead in village
+communities, with the farms in the outlying districts. The custom
+has many advantages. The families may help one another in various
+ways both by joining forces and exchanging services. They may also
+share in common the use of church, school, and post office. This
+French farming system has been adopted in Canada, while in our own
+country we follow the English custom of building isolated
+farmhouses.</p>
+
+<p>In working season the French farmer must go daily to his labor
+at a distance. The people in our picture are fortunate enough to
+own a donkey which is their burden-bearer between house and field.
+The strong little creature can carry a heavy load properly disposed
+in pannier baskets. The panniers are made very deep and wide, but
+rather flat, so as to fit the sides of the donkey. With one of
+these hanging on each side of the saddle, the weight of the burden
+is so well distributed that it is easily borne.</p>
+
+<p>The donkey of our picture has been relieved of his panniers, and
+now rests in the shade of some apple-trees. One of the baskets is
+in the mean time put to a novel use. Made soft and warm with a
+heavy cloak, it forms a nice cradle for the baby. The babies in
+French peasant families are often left at home with the
+grandmother, while the mother goes out to field work. The painter
+Millet himself was in childhood the special charge of his
+grandmother, while his mother labored on the farm. The people of
+our picture have another and, as it seems, a much pleasanter plan,
+in going to the field as a family party.</p>
+
+<img src="images/thepotatoplanters.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc. THE POTATO PLANTERS"
+ align="right">
+
+<p>The day is well advanced and the work goes steadily on. It is
+potato planting, and the potato crop is of great importance to
+country people, second perhaps to the wheat, as it supplies food to
+both man and beast. The commoner varieties, as the large white, are
+raised for cattle, and the finer and sweeter kinds, the red and the
+yellow, are kept for the table.</p>
+
+<p>The laborer and his wife move along the field, facing each other
+on opposite sides of the row they are planting. The man turns the
+sod with his hoe, a short-handled tool which long practice has
+taught him to use skilfully. The wife carries the potato seed in
+her apron, and as her husband lifts each spadeful of earth, she
+throws the seed into the hole thus made. He holds the hoe suspended
+a moment while the seed drops in, and then replaces the earth over
+it. The two work in perfect unison, each following the other's
+motion with mechanical regularity, as they move down the field
+together.</p>
+
+<p>The two who work so well together in the field are sure to work
+well together in the home. The man has the serious, capable look of
+a provident husband. The woman looks like a good housewife. That
+shapely hand throwing the seed so deftly into the ground is well
+adapted to domestic tasks.</p>
+
+<p>We may easily identify our picture as a familiar scene in
+Millet's Barbizon surroundings. We are told that "upon all sides of
+Barbizon, save one, the plain stretches almost literally as far as
+the eye can reach," and presents "a generally level and open
+surface." "There are no isolated farmhouses, and no stone walls,
+fences, or hedges, except immediately around the villages; and were
+it not all under cultivation, the plain might be taken for a vast
+common."<a name='FNanchor_1_8'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_1_8'><sup>[1]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>It is evident, then, that we here see the plain of Barbizon and
+true Barbizon peasants of Millet's day. The villagers of the
+painter's acquaintance were on the whole a prosperous class, nearly
+all owning their houses and a few acres of ground. The big
+apple-tree under which the donkey rests is just such an one as grew
+in Millet's own little garden.</p>
+
+<p>Fruit trees were his peculiar delight. He knew all their ways,
+and "all their special twists and turnings;" how the leaves of the
+apple-tree are bunched together on their twigs, and how the roots
+spread under ground. "Any artist," he used to say, "can go to the
+East and paint a palm-tree, but very few can paint an
+apple-tree."</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+ <a name='Footnote_1_8'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_8'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>From Edward Wheelwright's <i>Recollections of Jean
+Fran&ccedil;ois Millet</i>, in <i>Atlantic Monthly</i>, September,
+1876.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='thewomansewingbylamplight'></a>
+<h2>IV</h2>
+
+<h3>THE WOMAN SEWING BY LAMPLIGHT</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>Though the peasant women of France have so large a share in the
+laborious out-of-door work on the farms, they are not unfitted for
+domestic duties. In the long winter evenings they devote themselves
+to more distinctly woman's tasks, knitting and sewing, sometimes
+even spinning and weaving. Their housekeeping is very simple, for
+they live frugally, but they know how to make the home comfortable.
+Many modern inventions are still unknown to them, and we should
+think their customs very primitive, but on this account they are
+perhaps even more picturesque.</p>
+
+<p>There is contentment in every line of the face of this Woman
+Sewing by Lamplight. It is the face of a happy young wife and
+mother. She sits close by her baby's bedside that she may listen to
+his gentle breathing as he sleeps, and she smiles softly to herself
+while she sews. It is a sweet face which bends over the work, and
+it is framed in the daintiest of white caps edged with a wide
+ruffle which is turned back over the hair above the forehead, that
+it may not shade her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>The garment that lies on her lap is of some coarse heavy
+material. No dainty bit of fancy work is this, but a plain piece of
+mending. It may be the long cloak which the shepherd wraps about
+him in cold and stormy weather. Made from the wool grown on his own
+sheep, spun by his wife's own hand, it is unrivalled among
+manufactured cloths for warmth and comfort. The needle is threaded
+with a coarse thread of wool, which the sewer draws deftly through
+the cloth.</p>
+
+<img src="images/womansewing.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co. THE WOMAN SEWING BY LAMPLIGHT John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc."
+ align="right">
+
+<p>On a pole which runs from floor to ceiling is a hook, from which
+a lamp is suspended by a chain. This lamp appears to be a
+boat-shaped vessel with the wick coming out at one end. The light
+gilds the mother's gentle profile with shining radiance; it
+illumines the fingers of her right hand, and gleams on the coarse
+garment in her lap, transforming it into a cloth of gold.</p>
+
+<p>The baby meanwhile lies on the other side of the lamp in the
+shadow. His little mouth is open, and he is fast asleep. We can
+almost fancy that the mother croons a lullaby as she sews. There is
+a pathetic little French song called La Petite
+H&eacute;l&egrave;ne, which Millet's mother used to sing to him,
+and which he in turn taught his own children. Perhaps we could not
+understand the words if we could hear it. But when mothers sing to
+their babies, whatever the tongue in which they speak, they use a
+common language of motherhood. Some such simple little lullaby as
+this, which mothers of another land sing to their babes, would
+doubtless interpret this mother's thoughts:&mdash;</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>"Sleep, baby, sleep!</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Thy father watches the
+sheep;</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Thy mother is shaking the dreamland
+tree,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And down comes a little dream on
+thee.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Sleep, baby, sleep!</span><br>
+<br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>"Sleep, baby, sleep!</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>The large stars are the
+sheep;</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>The little ones are the lambs, I
+guess:</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>The gentle moon is the
+shepherdess,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Sleep, baby, sleep!</span><br>
+<br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>"Sleep, baby, sleep!</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Our Saviour loves his
+sheep;</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>He is the Lamb of God on
+high</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Who for our sakes came down to
+die.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Sleep, baby, sleep!"</span><br>
+<br>
+
+
+<p>When we remember that the ancient Romans had lamps constructed
+somewhat like that in the picture, it seems strange that so rude a
+contrivance should be in use in the nineteenth century. But this is
+only the practical and prosaic side of the question. For artistic
+purposes the lamp is just what is wanted in the composition.</p>
+
+<p>You can see how a lamp with a glass chimney and shade would
+spoil the whole effect. We should lose that strange beautiful halo
+surrounding the wick, and the light would fall only on the work,
+instead of glorifying the face of the mother. These wonderful
+impressions of light add much to the artistic beauty of the
+picture, and explain why artists have so greatly admired it.</p>
+
+<p>The picture naturally recalls that other Mother and Babe, Mary
+of Nazareth and the holy Child Jesus, who for so many centuries
+have inspired the imagination of artists. Often a painter has drawn
+his first conception for this sacred subject from some peasant
+mother and child such as these.</p>
+
+<p>In order to give religious significance to their pictures,
+artists have tried in many ways to suggest the supernatural. They
+have introduced halos about the heads of Mary and Jesus, and have
+made the light seem to shine mysteriously from the child's body.
+Now our painter Millet, representing only an ordinary mother and
+babe, has not used any such methods. Nevertheless, without going
+beyond strict reality, he has produced a mystical effect of light
+which makes this picture worthy of a place among the Madonnas. The
+glow of the lamp transforms the familiar scene into a shrine of
+mother's love.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='theshepherdess'></a>
+<h2>V</h2>
+
+<h3>THE SHEPHERDESS</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>Many years ago the early English poet, Sir Philip Sidney, wrote
+a book about an imaginary country called Arcadia, noted for the
+sweetness of the air and the gentle manners of the people. As he
+described the beauties of the scenery there, he told of "meadows
+enamelled with all sorts of eye-pleasing flowers; each pasture
+stored with sheep feeding with sober security; here a shepherd's
+boy piping as though he should never be old; there a young
+shepherdess knitting and withal singing, and it seemed that her
+voice comforted her hands to work, and her hands kept time to her
+voice-music."</p>
+
+<p>We could easily fancy that our picture of the Shepherdess was
+meant to illustrate a scene in Arcadia. Here is the meadow
+"enamelled with eye-pleasing flowers," the sheep "feeding with
+sober security," and the young shepherdess herself knitting. Though
+she is not singing with her lips, her heart sings softly as she
+knits, and her hands keep time to the dream-music.</p>
+
+<p>Early in the morning she led her flock out to the fallow
+pastures which make good grazing ground. All day long the sheep
+have nibbled the green herbage at their own sweet will, always
+under the watchful eye of their gentle guardian. Her hands have
+been busy all the time. Like patient Griselda in Chaucer's poem,
+who did her spinning while she watched her sheep, "she would not
+have been idle till she slept." Ever since she learned at her
+mother's knee those early lessons in knitting, she has kept the
+needles flying. She can knit perfectly well now while she follows
+her flock about. The work almost knits itself while her eyes and
+thoughts are engaged in other occupations.</p>
+
+<p>The little shepherdess has an assistant too, who shares the
+responsibilities of her task. He is a small black dog, "patient and
+full of importance and grand in the pride of his instinct."<a name=
+'FNanchor_1_9'></a><a href='#Footnote_1_9'><sup>[1]</sup></a> When
+a sheep is tempted by an enticing bit of green in the distance to
+stray from its companions, the dog quickly bounds after the runaway
+and drives it back to the flock. Only the voice of the shepherdess
+is needed to send him hither, thither, and yon on such errands.</p>
+
+<p>Now nightfall comes, and it is time to lead the flock home to
+the sheepfold. The sheep are gathered into a compact mass, the ram
+in their midst. The shepherdess leads the way, and the dog remains
+at the rear, "walking from side to side with a lordly air," to
+allow no wanderer to escape.</p>
+
+<img src="images/shepherdess.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co. John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc. THE SHEPHERDESS"
+ align="left">
+
+<p>Their way lies across the plain whose level stretch is unbroken
+by fences or buildings. In the distance men may be seen loading a
+wagon with hay. The sheep still keep on nibbling as they go, and
+their progress is slow. The shepherdess takes time to stop and rest
+now and then, propping her staff in front of her while she picks up
+a stitch dropped in her knitting. There is a sense of perfect
+stillness in the air, that calm silence of the fields, which Millet
+once said was the gayest thing he knew in nature.</p>
+
+<p>The chill of nightfall is beginning to be felt, and the
+shepherdess wears a hood and cape. Her face shows her to be a
+dreamer. These long days in the open air give her many visions to
+dream of. Her companionship with dumb creatures makes her more
+thoughtful, perhaps, than many girls of her age.</p>
+
+<p>As a good shepherdess she knows her sheep well enough to call
+them all by name. From their soft wool was woven her warm cape and
+hood, and there is a genuine friendship between flock and mistress.
+When she goes before them, they follow her, for they know her
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>Among the traditions dear to the hearts of the French people is
+one of a saintly young shepherdess of Nanterre, known as Ste.
+Genevi&egrave;ve. Like the shepherdess of our picture, she was a
+dreamer, and her strange visions and wonderful sanctity set her
+apart from childhood for a great destiny. She grew up to be the
+saviour of Paris, and to-day her name is honored in a fine church
+dedicated to her memory. It was the crowning honor of Millet's life
+that he was commissioned to paint on the walls of this church
+scenes from the life of Ste. Genevi&egrave;ve. He did not live to
+do the work, but one cannot help believing that his ideals of the
+maiden of Nanterre must have taken some such shape as this picture
+of the Shepherdess.</p>
+
+<p>In the painting from which our illustration is reproduced, the
+colors are rich and glowing. The girl's dress is blue and her cap a
+bright red. The light shining on her cloak turns it a rich golden
+brown. Earth and sky are glorified by the beautiful sunset
+light.</p>
+
+<p>As we look across the plain, the earth seems to stretch away on
+every side into infinite distance. We are carried out of ourselves
+into the boundless liberty of God's great world. "The still small
+voice of the level twilight" speaks to us out of the "calm and
+luminous distance."</p>
+
+<p>Ruskin has sought to explain the strange attractive power which
+luminous space has for us. "There is one thing that it has, or
+suggests," he says, "which no other object of sight suggests in
+equal degree, and that is,&mdash;Infinity. It is of all visible
+things the least material, the least finite, the farthest withdrawn
+from the earth prison-house, the most typical of the nature of God,
+the most suggestive of the glory of his dwelling place."<a name=
+'FNanchor_2_10'></a><a href='#Footnote_2_10'><sup>[2]</sup></a></p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+ <a name='Footnote_1_9'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_9'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>Like the watchdog described in Longfellow's <i>Evangeline</i>,
+Part II.</p>
+</div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_2_10'></a><a href='#FNanchor_2_10'>[2]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>In <i>Modern Painters</i>, in chapter on "Infinity," from which
+also the other quotations are drawn.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='thewomanfeedinghens'></a>
+<h2>VI</h2>
+
+<h3>THE WOMAN FEEDING HENS</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>In walking through a French village, we get as little idea of
+the home life of the people as if we were in a large town or city.
+The houses usually border directly upon the street, and the spaces
+between are closed with high walls, shutting in the thoroughfare as
+completely as in a city "block." Behind these barriers each family
+carries on its domestic affairs in the privacy of its own domain.
+The <i>cour</i>, or dooryard, is the enclosure adjoining the house,
+and is surrounded on all sides by buildings or walls. Beyond this
+the more prosperous have also a garden or orchard, likewise
+surrounded by high walls.</p>
+
+<p>In the dooryard are performed many of the duties both of the
+barn and the house. Here the cows are milked, the horses groomed,
+the sheep sheared, and the poultry fed. Here, too, is the
+children's playground, safe from the dangers of the street, and
+within hearing of the mother's voice.</p>
+
+<img src="images/womanhens.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co. John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc. THE WOMAN FEEDING HENS"
+ align="right">
+
+<p>It is into such a dooryard that we seem to be looking in this
+picture of The Woman Feeding Hens. It is a common enough little
+house which we see, built of stone, plastered over, in the fashion
+of the French provinces, and very low. In the long wall from the
+door to the garden gate is only one small high window. But time and
+nature have done much to beautify the spot. In the cracks of the
+roof, thatched or tiled, whichever it may be, many a vagrant seed
+has found lodgment. The weeds have grown up in profusion to cover
+the bare little place with leaf and flower. Indeed, there is here a
+genuine roof garden of the prettiest sort, and it extends along the
+stone wall separating the dooryard from the garden. Some one who
+has seen these vine-fringed walls in Barbizon describes them as gay
+with "purple orris, stonecrop, and pellitory."</p>
+
+<p>A young wife presides in the little cottage home and rules her
+side of the dooryard with gentle sway. She has a curly-haired baby
+boy who creeps after her as she goes about her work. His inquiring
+mind is at this age investigating all the corners of the house, and
+before long he will be the young master of the dooryard.</p>
+
+<p>The housewife boasts a small brood of hens. Early in the morning
+the voice of the chanticleer is heard greeting the dawn. Presently
+he leads his family forth to begin their day's scratching in the
+dooryard. Here and there they wander with contented clucks, as they
+find now and then a worm or grub for a titbit. But it is only a
+poor living which is to be earned by scratching. The thrifty
+housewife sees to it that her brood are well fed. At regular times
+she comes out of the house to feed them with grain, as she is doing
+now.</p>
+
+<p>The baby hears the mother's voice saying, in what is the French
+equivalent, "Here chick-chick-chick," and creeps swiftly to the
+door. He, too, tries to call "chick-chick." He watches the odd
+creatures eagerly as they gobble up the seed. They stand about in a
+circle, heads all together in the centre, bobbing up and down as
+long as any food remains. Chanticleer holds back with true
+gallantry, and with an air of masculine superiority. The belated
+members of the brood come running up as fast as they can. The apron
+holds a generous supply, so that there is enough for all, but the
+housewife doles it out prudently by the handful, that none may
+suffer through the greediness of the others.</p>
+
+<p>As we study the lines of the picture a little, they teach us
+some important lessons in composition. We note first the series of
+perpendicular lines at regular intervals across the width of the
+picture. These counterbalance the effect of the long perspective
+which is so skilfully indicated in the drawing of the house and the
+garden walk. The perspective is secured chiefly by three converging
+lines, the roof and ground lines of the house, and the line of the
+garden walk. These lines if extended would meet at a single
+point.</p>
+
+<p>Once more let us recall Ruskin's teaching in regard to enclosed
+spaces.<a name='FNanchor_1_11'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_1_11'><sup>[1]</sup></a> The artist is unhappy if shut
+in by impenetrable barriers. There must always be, he says, some
+way of escape, it matters not by how narrow a path, so that the
+imagination may have its liberty.</p>
+
+<p>This is the principle which our painter has applied in his
+picture. He wisely gives us a glimpse of the sky above, and shows
+us the shady vista of the garden walk leading to the great world
+beyond.</p>
+
+<p>Our illustration is from a charcoal drawing, which, like the
+Knitting Lesson, is matched by a corresponding painting.</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<a name='Footnote_1_11'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_11'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>In <i>Modern Painters</i> in the chapter on "Infinity."</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='theangelus'></a>
+<h2>VII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE ANGELUS</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>The early twilight of autumn has overtaken two peasants at the
+close of a day's work in the field. They are gathering the potato
+harvest. The dried plants are first pulled up, and the potatoes
+carefully dug out of the holes. Then the vegetables are taken from
+the furrows by the basketful, and poured into brown linen sacks to
+be carried home on the wheelbarrow. One of these sacks is not yet
+quite full, and the work has been prolonged after sunset.</p>
+
+<p>The field is a long way from the village, but in the still air
+sounds are carried far across the plain. Suddenly the bell of the
+village church peals forth. The man stops digging and plunges his
+fork into the earth, and the woman hastily rises from her stooping
+posture. The Angelus bell is ringing, and it calls them to
+prayer.</p>
+
+<p>Three times each day, at sunrise, midday, and sunset, this bell
+reminds the world of the birth of Jesus Christ. The strokes are
+rung in three groups, corresponding to the three parts of The
+Angelus, which are recited in turn. The first word gives the bell
+its name,&mdash;Angelus, the Latin for angel.</p>
+
+<br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>"The angel of the Lord announced to
+Mary,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And she conceived of the Holy
+Spirit.</span><br>
+<br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>"Behold the handmaid of the
+Lord,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Be it done unto me according to thy
+word.</span><br>
+<br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>"And the word was made
+flesh</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And dwelt among us."</span><br>
+<br>
+<p>Thus run the words of the translation in the three couplets into
+which they are separated, and then this prayer is added: "We
+beseech thee, O Lord, pour forth thy grace into our hearts; that as
+we have known the incarnation of thy Son Jesus Christ by the
+message of an angel, so by his cross and passion we may be brought
+into the glory of his resurrection, through the same Jesus Christ
+our Lord."</p>
+
+<p>Besides this, after each couplet of the Angelus, is recited that
+short hymn of praise, beginning with the words which the angel of
+the annunciation addressed to Mary,<a name='FNanchor_1_12'></a><a
+href='#Footnote_1_12'><sup>[1]</sup></a> "Ave Maria." This is why
+the hour after sunset is so often called the hour of Ave Maria. The
+English poet Byron has written of this solemn moment:&mdash;</p>
+
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>"Ave Maria! blessed be the
+hour!</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>The time, the clime, the spot,
+where I so oft</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Have felt that moment in its
+fullest power</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Sink o'er the earth so beautiful
+and soft,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>While swung the deep bell in the
+distant tower,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Or the faint dying day-hymn stole
+aloft,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And not a breath crept through the
+rosy air,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And yet the forest leaves seemed
+stirred with prayer."</span><br>
+ <img src="images/angelus.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co. John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc. THE ANGELUS"
+ align="left">
+
+<p>The atmosphere of prayer pervades the picture. The woman stands
+with bowed head and hands clasped over her breast. Her whole body
+sways slightly forward in the intensity of her devotion. Her
+husband has bared his head and holds his hat before him. Though he
+may seem somewhat awkward, he is not less sincerely reverent.</p>
+
+<p>The sunset light shines on the woman's blue apron, gilds the
+potato sacks in the wheelbarrow, and gleams along the furrows.
+Farther away, the withered plants are heaped in rows of little
+piles. Beyond, the level plain stretches to meet the glowing sky,
+and, outlined on the horizon, is the spire of the church where the
+bells are ringing.</p>
+
+<p>As the meaning of the picture grows upon us, we can almost hear
+the ringing of the bells. Indeed, to those familiar with such
+scenes in actual life, the impression is very vivid. The friend to
+whom Millet first showed his painting immediately exclaimed, "It is
+the Angelus." "Then you can hear the bells," said the artist, and
+was content.</p>
+
+<p>The solemn influence of the picture is deepened by the effects
+of the twilight on the plains. A wide outlook across a level
+country, like a view of the sea, is always impressive, but it has
+peculiar power in the vague light which follows the sunset. Many
+poetic natures have felt this mystic spell of the gloaming as it
+descends upon the plain. Robert Louis Stevenson was one of these,
+and upon visiting Barbizon he described vividly his feelings at
+such an hour. We are told also that Millet loved to walk abroad at
+nightfall and note the mysterious effects of the twilight. "It is
+astonishing," he once said to his brother in such a walk, "how
+grand everything on the plain appears, towards the approach of
+night, especially when we see the figures thrown out against the
+sky. Then they look like giants."</p>
+
+<p>In nearly all of Millet's pictures people are busy doing
+something. Either hands or feet, and sometimes both hands and feet,
+are in motion. They are pictures of action. In the Angelus,
+however, people are resting from labor; it is a picture of repose.
+The busy hands cease their work a moment, and the spirit rises in
+prayer. We have already seen, in other pictures, how labor may be
+lightened by love. Here we see labor glorified by piety.</p>
+
+<p>The painting of the Angelus has had a remarkable history. The
+patron for whom it was first intended was disappointed with the
+picture when finished, and Millet had no little difficulty in
+finding a purchaser. In the course of time it became one of the
+most popular works of the painter, and is probably better known in
+our country than any other of his pictures. In 1889 it was bought
+by an American, and was carried on an exhibition tour through most
+of the large cities of the United States. Finally it returned to
+France, where it is now in the collection of M. Chauchard.</p>
+
+<p>The Angelus is one of the few of Millet's works which have
+changed with time. The color has grown dark and the canvas has
+cracked somewhat, owing to the use of bitumen in the painting.</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+ <a name='Footnote_1_12'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_12'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>"Hail Mary"; see St. Luke, chapter i., verse 28.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='fillingthewaterbottles'></a>
+<h2>VIII</h2>
+
+<h3>FILLING THE WATER-BOTTLES</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>The artist Millet loved to draw as well as to paint. Black and
+white pictures had their charm for him as truly as those in color.
+Indeed, he once said that "tone," which is the most important part
+of color, can be perfectly expressed in black and white. It is
+therefore not strange that he made many drawings. Some of these,
+like the Knitting Lesson and the Woman Feeding Hens, were, as we
+have seen, studies for paintings. The picture called Filling the
+Water-Bottles was, on the other hand, a charcoal drawing,
+corresponding to no similar painting. It is in itself a finished
+work of art.</p>
+
+<p>It is a typical French river scene which we see here, and it
+gives us an idea how large a part a river may take in the life of
+French country people. Sometimes it is the sole source of water for
+a village. Then it is not only the common village laundry, in which
+all clothing is washed, but it is also the great village fountain,
+from which all drinking-water is drawn.</p>
+
+<img src="images/waterbottles.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co. FILLING THE WATER-BOTTLES John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc."
+ align="right">
+
+<p>The women in our picture have come to the bank with big earthen
+jars to fill. It is in the cool of early morning, and the mist
+still lies thick over the marshes bordering the river. The sun,
+seen through the mist, looks like a round ball. On the farther
+bank, where a group of poplars grow, some horsemen ride up to ford
+the stream. They, too, are setting forth early on their day's work.
+One is already half across.</p>
+
+<p>The women have picked out, along the marshy bank, a point of
+land jutting into the river like a miniature promontory, and
+seemingly of firm soil. It is only large enough to hold one at a
+time, so they take turns. One is now filling a bottle, while the
+other waits, standing beside two jars.</p>
+
+<p>The first woman kneels on the ground, and supporting herself
+firmly by placing one hand on the edge of the bank, she grasps the
+jar by the handle, with her free right hand, and swings it well out
+over the water. Experience has taught her the most scientific way
+of filling the jar with least muscular strain. She does not try to
+plunge it down into the water, but holding it on its side, slightly
+tipped, draws it along with the mouth half under the surface,
+sucking in the water as it moves. We see what hard, firm muscles
+she has to hold the arm out so tensely. Her arm acts like a compass
+describing the arc of a circle through the water with the jar. As
+we look, we can almost see her completing the circle, and drawing
+up the full jar upon the bank.</p>
+
+<p>The woman who waits her turn is capable of the same feat. There
+is power in every line of her figure as she stands in what has been
+well described by a critic as a "majestic pose." She straightens
+back to rest, with her arms on her hips, quite unconscious that
+there is anything fine in her appearance.</p>
+
+<p>Look a minute and you will see that she is the woman of the
+Angelus. As we saw her in the other picture, with head bowed and
+hands clasped on her breast, we did not realize how grand and
+strong she was. But raising her head, throwing back her chest, and
+putting her arms on her sides, she shows us now her full power.</p>
+
+<p>Both women are dressed alike in the clothing which is now
+familiar to us from the other pictures,&mdash;coarse gowns made
+with scanty skirts, long aprons reaching nearly to the bottom of
+the dress, kerchiefs fastened snugly about their heads, and wooden
+sabots. We could not imagine anything that would become them
+better. It is part of the French nature to understand the art of
+dressing, and this art is found just as truly among the peasants of
+the provinces as in the fashionable world at Paris.</p>
+
+<p>The picture is a study in black and white which any one who
+cares for drawing will wish to examine attentively. He was indeed a
+master who could, with a single bit of charcoal, make us feel the
+witchery of this early morning hour by the river-side. We note the
+many different "tones" of the picture,&mdash;the faint soft mist of
+the distant atmosphere over the marshes, growing darker on the
+poplars and the hilly bank in the middle distance; the shadow of
+the bank in the river; the gleam of the sunlight on the calm water
+mid-stream; the ripples about the jar; the sharply defined figures
+of the women, dark on the side turned from the sun; and the
+quivering shadow of the kneeling woman in the ripple-broken water
+in front.</p>
+
+<p>Among primitive peoples the hour of sunrise was a sacred time,
+when hymns were sung and sacrifices were offered to the life-giving
+sun. The painter Millet has expressed something of the mystic
+solemnity of the hour in this picture. The sun has awakened the
+world to work, and in its strength men and women go forth to
+labor.<a name='FNanchor_1_13'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_1_13'><sup>[1]</sup></a></p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+ <a name='Footnote_1_13'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_13'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>A fine passage on the morning occurs in Thoreau's second chapter
+of <i>Walden</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='feedingherbirds'></a>
+<h2>IX</h2>
+
+<h3>FEEDING HER BIRDS</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>As we have already seen in the picture of the Woman Feeding
+Hens, the dooryard in French village homes is so shut in by walls,
+that it has the privacy of a family living-room. This was the
+arrangement in Millet's own home at Barbizon. The painter was among
+the fortunate ones who had a garden beyond the dooryard. At the
+other end of this was his studio, where he worked many hours of the
+day. It is said that he used to leave the door open that he might
+hear the children's voices at their play. Sometimes, indeed, he
+would call them in to look at his pictures, and was always much
+pleased when they seemed to understand and like them. We may be
+sure that he often looked across the garden to the dooryard where
+the family life was going on, and at such times he must have caught
+many a pretty picture. Perhaps our picture of this mother feeding
+her children was suggested in this way.</p>
+
+<p>Three healthy, happy children have been playing about in the
+yard,&mdash;a girl of six, her younger sister, and a brother still
+younger. They are dressed simply, so as to enjoy themselves
+thoroughly without fear of injuring any fine clothes. All three
+wear long aprons and wooden sabots. The little girls have their
+flying hair confined in close bonnet caps tied under the chin. The
+boy rejoices in a round cap ornamented on top with a button. The
+sisters take great care of their little brother.</p>
+
+<p>The toys are of a very rude sort and evidently of home
+manufacture. A cart is constructed of a board set on clumsy wheels.
+A doll is roughly shaped of wood and wrapped in a hood and blanket.
+There is a basket besides, in which one can gather bits of treasure
+picked up here and there in the yard.</p>
+
+<img src="images/feedingbirds.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co. John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc. FEEDING HER BIRDS"
+ align="left">
+
+<p>By and by the play is interrupted by a familiar voice. The
+children look up and see their mother standing smiling in the
+doorway. A bowl which she has in her hand is still steaming, and an
+appetizing odor reminds them that they are hungry. The basket and
+the cart are hastily dropped, but not the doll, and they all run to
+the doorstep. The brother is placed in the middle and the sisters
+seat themselves on either side. The elder girl still holds her doll
+with maternal solicitude; the other two children clasp hands, and
+the sister's arm is put around the boy's neck.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the mother has seated herself directly in front of
+them, on a low stool such as is used by country people as a
+milking-stool. She tips it a little as she leans over to feed the
+children in turn from a long-handled wooden spoon. Of course the
+first taste is for the little brother, and he stretches out his
+neck eagerly, opening his mouth wide so as not to lose a drop. The
+sisters look on eagerly, the younger one opening her own mouth a
+little, quite unconsciously. An inquisitive hen runs up to see what
+good things there are to eat. In the garden beyond, the father
+works busily at his spading.</p>
+
+<p>The name which Millet gave to this picture is the French word
+<i>Becqu&eacute;e</i>, which cannot be translated into any
+corresponding word in English. It means a <i>beakful</i>, that is,
+the food which the mother bird holds in her beak to give to the
+nestlings.</p>
+
+<p>The painter had in mind, you see, a nestful of birds being fed.
+The similarity between the family and the bird life is closely
+carried out in the picture. The children sit together as snugly as
+birds in a nest. The mother bends toward them in a brooding
+attitude which is like the bird mother's. Her extended hand
+suggests a bird's beak, tapering to a sharp point at the end of the
+spoon. The young bird's mouth is wide open, and in pops the nice
+spoonful of broth! The house itself is made to look like a cosy
+little nest by the vine that embowers it. The sturdy stem runs up
+close by the doorstep and sends out over door and window its broad
+branches of beautiful green leaves.</p>
+
+<p>And just as the father bird watches the nest from his perch on
+some branch of the tree, the father at work in the garden can look
+from time to time at the little family circle in the doorway. As in
+the picture of the Woman Feeding Hens, the house is built of stone
+covered with plaster. The door casing is of large ill-matched
+blocks of stone. The dooryard is made to appear much larger by the
+glimpse of the orchard we get through the gateway. No out-of-door
+picture is complete which does not show something of the beauty of
+nature. The dooryard itself would be a bare place but for the shady
+garden beyond.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='thechurchatgreville'></a>
+<h2>X</h2>
+
+<h3>THE CHURCH AT GR&Eacute;VILLE</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>The village-commune of Gr&eacute;ville has nothing to make it
+famous except that it was the birthplace of the painter Millet. It
+is at the tip of Cape La Hague, which juts abruptly from the French
+coast into the English channel. The cape is a steep headland
+bristling with granite rocks and needles, and very desolate seen
+from the sea. Inland it is pleasant and fruitful, with apple
+orchards and green meadows.</p>
+
+<p>The village life centres about the church, for the inhabitants
+of Grenville are a serious and God-fearing people. The church is
+the spot around which cluster the most sacred associations of life.
+Here the babies are baptized, and the youths and maidens confirmed;
+here the young people are married, and from here young and old
+alike are carried to their last resting-place. The building is
+hallowed by the memories of many generations of pious
+ancestors.</p>
+
+<p>The Millet family lived in an outlying hamlet (Gruchy) of
+Grenville, and were somewhat far from the church. Yet they had even
+more associations with it than other village families. Here our
+painter's father had early shown his talent for music at the head
+of the choir of boys who sang at the Sunday service. Here at one
+time his old uncle priest, Charles Millet, held the office of vicar
+and went every morning to say mass.</p>
+
+<p>Among the earliest recollections of Jean Fran&ccedil;ois was a
+visit to the church of Gr&eacute;ville at a time when some new
+bells had just been bought. They were first to be baptized, as was
+the custom, before being hung in the tower, and it was while they
+still stood on the ground that the mother brought her little boy to
+see them. "I well remember how much I was impressed," he afterwards
+said, "at finding myself in so vast a place as the church, which
+seemed even more immense than our barn, and how the beauty of the
+big windows, with their lozenge-shaped panes, struck my
+imagination."</p>
+
+<p>At the age of twelve the boy went to be confirmed at the church
+of Gr&eacute;ville, and thenceforth had another memorable
+experience to associate with the place. The vicar, who questioned
+him, found him so intelligent that he offered to teach him Latin.
+The lessons led to the poems of Virgil, which opened a new world to
+him.</p>
+
+<img src="images/church.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co. John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc. THE CHURCH AT GR&Eacute;VILLE"
+ align="left">
+
+<p>Years passed; the boy became a man and the man became a famous
+artist. But the path to fame had been a toilsome one, and as Millet
+pressed on his way he was able to return but seldom to the spots he
+had loved in his youth, and then only on sad errands. At length the
+time came (1871) when the artist brought his entire family to his
+native Grenville to spend a long summer holiday. Millet made many
+sketches of familiar scenes which gave him material for work for
+the next three years. One of these pictures was that of the village
+church, which he began to paint sitting at one of the windows of
+the inn where the family were staying.</p>
+
+<p>If the building had lost the grandeur it possessed for his
+childish imagination, it was still full of artistic possibilities
+for a beautiful picture.</p>
+
+<p>It is a solid structure, and we fancy that the builders did not
+have far to bring the stone of which it is composed. The great
+granite cliffs which rise from the sea must be an inexhaustible
+quarry. The building is low and broad, to withstand the bleak
+winds. A less substantial structure, perched on this plateau, would
+be swept over the cliffs into the sea. There is something about it
+suggestive of the sturdy character of the Norman peasants
+themselves, strong, patient, and enduring. It is very old; the
+passing years have covered the walls with moss, and nature seems to
+have made the place her own. It is as if, instead of being built
+with hands, it were a portion of the old cliffs themselves.</p>
+
+<p>The grassy hillock against which the church nestles is filled
+with graves, a cross here and there marking the place where some
+more important personage is buried. Here is the sacred spot where
+Millet's saintly old grandmother was laid to rest. A rough stone
+wall surrounds the churchyard, as old and moss-grown as the
+building itself. Some stone steps leading into the yard are
+hollowed by the feet of many generations of worshippers. In the
+rear is a low stone house embowered in trees.</p>
+
+<p>The square bell-tower lifts a weather-vane against the sky, and
+the birds flock about it as about an old home. The rather steep
+roof is slightly depressed, as if beginning to sink in.</p>
+
+<p>With a painter's instinct Millet chose the point of view from
+which all the lines of the church would be most beautiful and
+whence we may see to the best advantage the quaint outlines of the
+tower. Beside this, he took for his work the day and hour when that
+great artist, the sun, could lend most effective help. So we see
+the simple little building at its best. The sky makes a glorious
+background, with fleecy clouds delicately veiling its brilliancy.
+The bright light throws a shadow of the tower across the roof,
+breaking the monotony of its length. The bareness of the big
+barn-like end is softened by the shadow in which it is seen. The
+plain side is decorated with the shadows of the buttresses and
+window embrasures.</p>
+
+<p>The sheep are as much at home here as the birds. They nibble
+contentedly in the road by the wall, and are undisturbed by the
+approach of a villager. Beyond, at the left, is a glimpse of the
+level stretch of the sea. This is a spot where earth and sky and
+water meet, where the fishermen from the sea and the ploughmen from
+the fields come to worship God.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='thesower'></a>
+<h2>XI</h2>
+
+<h3>THE SOWER</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>It is nightfall, and the sky is cloudy save where the last rays
+of the setting sun illumine a spot on the horizon. While the light
+lasts, the Sower still holds to his task of sowing the seed. A
+large sack of grain is fastened about his body and hangs at his
+left side, where one end of it is grasped firmly in the left hand
+lest any of the precious seed be spilled. Into this bag he plunges
+his right hand from time to time, and draws out a handful of grain
+which he flings into the furrow as he walks along.</p>
+
+<p>The Sower's task ended, a series of strange transformations
+begins in the life of the seed. The winter rain softens and swells
+it, and when spring comes it pushes its way up in a tiny shoot.
+Soon the slender blades appear in close lines; by and by the stalks
+grow tall and strong, and the field is full of the beautiful green
+grain.</p>
+
+<img src="images/sower.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co. John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc. THE SOWER"
+ align="right">
+
+<p>Then the hot summer sun shines with ripening power; the wheat
+turns a golden yellow; the ears bend under the weight of the grain,
+and it is time for the harvest. The reapers come with sickle and
+scythe, and the grain is cut, and bound into great sheaves. The
+thrashing follows, when the ear is shaken off the stalk, and the
+grain is winnowed. And now the mills take up the work, the golden
+wheat grains are crushed, and the fine white flour which they
+contain is sifted and put into bags. The flour is mixed and kneaded
+and baked, and at length comes forth from the oven a fragrant loaf
+of bread.</p>
+
+<p>Now bread is a necessity of life to the people, and the supply
+of bread turns on the history of the seed. If the harvest is
+plenty, the people may eat and be happy. If it is poor, they suffer
+the miseries of hunger. If it fails altogether, they die of
+starvation. It is then a solemn moment when the seed is planted.
+Often the sower begins his task by tossing a handful of grain into
+the air in the sign of a cross, offering a prayer for a blessing on
+the seed. His is a grave responsibility; every handful of seed
+means many loaves of bread for hungry mouths. He must choose the
+right kind of seed for his soil, the right kind of weather for the
+planting, and use the grain neither too lavishly nor too
+sparingly.<a name='FNanchor_1_14'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_1_14'><sup>[1]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>This is why the Sower in our picture takes his task so
+seriously. He carries in his hand the key to prosperity. He is a
+true king. Peasant though he is, he feels the dignity of his
+calling, and bears himself royally. He advances with a long
+swinging stride, measuring his steps rhythmically as if beating
+time to inaudible music. His right arm moves to and fro, swinging
+from the shoulder as on a pivot, and describing the arc of a
+circle.</p>
+
+<p>The hilly field in which he works is such as the painter Millet
+was familiar with in his peasant childhood in Normandy. A yoke of
+oxen are drawing the plough in the distance, as is the custom in
+that province. The Sower himself is a true Norman peasant.</p>
+
+<p>It is interesting to trace the outlines of the composition.
+There is first the long line on the Sower's right side, beginning
+at the shoulder and following the outer edge of the right leg to
+the ground. On the other side, curving to meet this, is a line
+which begins at the top of the head, follows the left arm and the
+overhanging sack, and is faintly continued by the tiny stream of
+seed which leaks from the corner of the bag and falls near the
+Sower's foot. Crossing these curves in the opposite direction are
+the lines of the right arm and the left leg. Thus the figure is
+painted in strong simple outlines such as we see in the statues by
+great sculptors.</p>
+
+<p>The line defining the edge of the field against the sky, sloping
+in the direction in which the Sower walks, adds to the impression
+of motion which is so strongly suggested by the picture. As we
+look, we almost expect to see the Sower reach the foot of the
+slope, and stride out of sight, still flinging the grain as he
+goes.</p>
+
+<p>There is another thing to note about the composition, and that
+is the perfect proportion of the single figure to the canvas which
+it so completely fills. This was the result of the painter's
+experiments. In the haste of his first inspiration he did not allow
+space enough to surround the Sower.<a name='FNanchor_2_15'></a><a
+href='#Footnote_2_15'><sup>[2]</sup></a> He then carefully traced
+the figure on a larger canvas and made a second picture. Afterwards
+the same subject was repeated in a Barbizon landscape.</p>
+
+<p>Our American poet William Cullen Bryant has written a poem
+called "The Song of the Sower," which is very suggestive in
+connection with Millet's painting.<a name='FNanchor_3_16'></a><a
+href='#Footnote_3_16'><sup>[3]</sup></a> This is the way the song
+ends:&mdash;</p>
+
+<br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>"Brethren, the sower's task is
+done,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>The seed is in its winter
+bed.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Now let the dark-brown mould be
+spread,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>To hide it from the sun,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And leave it to the kindly
+care</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Of the still earth and brooding
+air,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>As when the mother, from her
+breast,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Lays the hushed babe apart to
+rest,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And shades its eyes, and waits to
+see</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>How sweet its waking smile will
+be.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>The tempest now may smite, the
+sleet</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>All night on the drowned furrow
+beat,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And winds that, from the cloudy
+hold,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Of winter breathe the bitter
+cold,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Stiffen to stone the yellow
+mould,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Yet safe shall lie the
+wheat;</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Till, out of heaven's unmeasured
+blue</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Shall walk again the genial
+year,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>To wake with warmth and nurse with
+dew</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>The germs we lay to slumber
+here."</span><br>
+ <br>
+<br>
+<a name='Footnote_1_14'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_14'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>For farmer's lore as to the diverse soils and diverse planting
+seasons, see Virgil's <i>Eclogues</i>, books i. and ii.</p>
+</div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_2_15'></a><a href='#FNanchor_2_15'>[2]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>In spite of this imperfection the first Sower is a highly prized
+painting and is in the Quincy-Shaw Collection, Boston.</p>
+</div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_3_16'></a><a href='#FNanchor_3_16'>[3]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>Compare also Victor Hugo's poem, often referred to in
+descriptions of this picture, <i>Saison des Semailles: Le
+Soir</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='thegleaners'></a>
+<h2>XII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE GLEANERS</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>It is harvest time on a large farm. The broad fields have been
+shorn of their golden grain, and men and women are still busy
+gathering it in. The binders have tied the wheat in sheaves with
+withes, the sheaves are piled upon a wagon and carried to a place
+near the farm buildings, where they are stacked in great mounds
+resembling enormous soup tureens. The overseer rides to and fro on
+his horse giving orders to the laborers.</p>
+
+<p>Now come the gleaners into the field to claim the time-honored
+privilege of gathering up the scattered ears still lying on the
+ground. The custom dates back to very early times.<a name=
+'FNanchor_1_17'></a><a href='#Footnote_1_17'><sup>[1]</sup></a> The
+ancient Hebrews had a strict religious law in regard to it: "When
+ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean
+riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither
+shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave
+them unto the poor, and to the stranger."<a name=
+'FNanchor_2_18'></a><a href='#Footnote_2_18'><sup>[2]</sup></a>
+Another law says that the gleanings are "for the fatherless and for
+the widow; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of
+thine hands."<a name='FNanchor_3_19'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_3_19'><sup>[3]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>This generous practice is still observed in France. The owner of
+a grain field would be afraid of bad luck to the harvest if he
+should refuse to let the gleaners in after the reapers. Gleaning
+is, however, allowed only in broad daylight, that no dishonest
+persons may carry away entire sheaves.</p>
+
+<p>It is near noon of a summer day, and the sun is high in the
+heavens, casting only small shadows about the feet. The gleaners
+are three women of the poorer peasant class. They are tidily
+dressed in their coarse working clothes, and wear kerchiefs tied
+over their heads, with the edge projecting a little over the
+forehead to shade the eyes. The dresses are cut rather low in the
+neck, for theirs is warm work.</p>
+
+<p>They make their way through the coarse stubble, as sharp as
+needles, gathering here and there a stray ear of the precious
+wheat. Already they have collected enough to make several little
+bundles, tied neatly, and piled together on the ground at one
+side.</p>
+
+<img src="images/gleaners.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co. John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc. THE GLEANERS"
+ align="left">
+
+<p>As we look at them closely we see that they represent the three
+ages of womanhood: there is a maiden, a matron, and an old woman.
+The nearest figure, standing at the right, is the eldest of the
+three. She cannot bear the strain of stooping long at a time, and
+bends stiffly and painfully to her task. Next her is a solidly
+built woman, with square figure and a broad back capable of bearing
+heavy burdens. Those strong large hands have done hard work. The
+third figure is that of a young woman with a lithe, girlish form.
+With a girl's thought for appearance she has pinned her kerchief so
+that the ends at the back form a little cape to shield her neck
+from the burning sun. Unlike her companions, she wears no apron.
+While the others use their aprons doubled up to form sacks for
+their gleanings, she holds her grain in her hand.</p>
+
+<p>If you will try in turn each one of the positions taken by the
+several figures, you will see how differently the three work. The
+two who put the grain in the apron, or pass it into the hand which
+rests on the knee, must every time lift themselves up with an
+awkward backward motion. The younger gleaner has found a short and
+direct route from one hand to the other, by resting the left hand,
+palm up, upon the back, where the right can reach it by a simple
+upward motion of the arm which requires no exertion of the body.
+Her method saves the strength and is more graceful.</p>
+
+<p>Moving forward in the stooping posture, with eyes fixed upon the
+ground, the figures of the gleaners have been compared to great
+grasshoppers, making their odd, irregular, hopping progress across
+the field. Even as we look they seem to move toward us.</p>
+
+<p>The picture is a fine study in lines. The middle figure is
+constructed in a square outline, and this square effect is
+emphasized in various ways,&mdash;by the right angle formed between
+the line across the bust and the right arm, by the square corner
+between chin and neck, and by the square shape of the kerchief at
+the back of the head. We thus get an idea of the solid, prosaic
+character of the woman herself.</p>
+
+<p>The younger woman is a creature of beautiful curves. The lines
+of her back and bust flow together in an oval figure which the
+position of the left arm completes. The outstretched right arm
+continues the fine line across the back. The lovely curve of the
+throat, the shapeliness of the hand, even the pretty adjustment of
+the kerchief, lend added touches to the charm of the youthful
+figure.</p>
+
+<p>The lines of the standing figure curve towards the other two,
+and carry the composition to sufficient height. The lines enclosing
+the entire group form a mound-like figure not unlike a wheat stack
+in shape. A wheat stack faintly seen across the distance in the
+centre of the field marks the apex of the mound, the sides being
+formed by the outer lines of the two outer figures.</p>
+
+<p>When we compare the picture with the others we have seen in the
+same general style of composition, showing a level plain with
+figures in front, we note how much more detail the background of
+the Gleaners contains. This is because the figures do not come
+above the horizon line, as do those in the Angelus and Shepherdess.
+Hence the eye must be led upward by minor objects, to take in the
+entire panorama spread before us.</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+ <a name='Footnote_1_17'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_17'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>See the Book of Ruth.</p>
+</div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_2_18'></a><a href='#FNanchor_2_18'>[2]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>Leviticus, chapter xxiii., verse 22.</p>
+</div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_3_19'></a><a href='#FNanchor_3_19'>[3]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>Deuteronomy, chapter xxiv., verse 19.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='themilkmaid'></a>
+<h2>XIII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE MILKMAID<a name='FNanchor_1_20'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_1_20'><sup>[1]</sup></a></h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>All through the years of Millet's life and work in Barbizon, his
+thoughts used to turn often to the little village in Normandy where
+he spent his youth. His early life in the fields impressed upon his
+memory all the out-of-door sights peculiar to his native province.
+The customs of peasants in France differ in the various provinces
+just as do ours in the various states. Some of the household
+utensils in Millet's childhood's home were such as he never saw
+elsewhere, and always remembered with pleasure. The ways of doing
+the work in Gr&eacute;ville were not altogether like the ways of
+Barbizon, and Millet's observant eye and retentive memory noted
+these differences with interest. When he revisited his home in
+later life, he made careful sketches of some of the jugs and
+kitchen utensils used in the family. He even carried off to his
+Barbizon studio one particular brass jar which was used when the
+girl went to the field to milk cows. He also sketched a girl
+carrying a jug of milk on her shoulder in the fashion of the place.
+Out of such studies was made our picture of the Milkmaid. "Women in
+my country carry jars of milk in that way," said the painter when
+explaining the picture to a visitor at his studio, and went on to
+tell of other features of the life in Normandy, which he reproduced
+in his pictures, though some of them he had not seen in all the
+long time since his boyhood. As a reminiscence of Normandy the
+Milkmaid is a companion piece to the Sower. There are other points
+of resemblance between the two pictures, as we shall see.</p>
+
+<img src="images/milkmaid.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co, John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc. THE MILKMAID"
+ align="right">
+
+<p>The day draws to its close in splendor, and the western sky is
+all aflame. Against this brilliant background the figure of the
+Milkmaid looms up grandly as she advances along the path through
+the meadow. She is returning from the field which lies on the other
+slope of the hill. There the cows are pastured and a rude fence
+marks the boundary. The girl has been out for the milking, and a
+cow near the fence turns its head in the direction of her
+retreating figure.</p>
+
+<p>The milk is carried in a large jar on the left shoulder. By
+holding the left arm akimbo, hand resting on the hip, the girl
+makes her shoulder a little broader, as it were, enlarging the
+support of the jar. The way in which the burden is kept in place is
+very interesting. To put up the right arm to steady it would be
+impossible, for the arm is not long enough to insure a firm grasp
+upon so heavy a weight. So a cord or strap is passed through the
+handle of the jar, carried over the head, and held in the right
+hand. The strong arm is stretched tense to keep the strap tight.
+The head must of course be protected from the straining of the
+cord, the shoulder from the pressure of the jar. Both are therefore
+well padded. The head pad resembles a cap hanging in lappets on
+each side. Even with this protection the girl's face shows the
+strain.</p>
+
+<p>A picture like this teaches us that there are other ways of
+giving a figure beauty than by making the face pretty. Just as
+Millet's Shepherdess differs altogether from the little Bopeep of
+the nursery tale, so this peasant girl is not at all like the
+pretty milkmaids who carry milking-stools and shining pails through
+the pages of the picture books. Millet had no patience with such
+pictures. Pretty girls were not fit for hard work, he said, and he
+always wanted to have the people he painted look as if they
+belonged to their station. Fitness was in his mind one of the chief
+elements of beauty.</p>
+
+<p>So he shows us in this Milkmaid a young woman framed in the
+massive proportions of an Amazon, and eminently fitted for her lot
+in life. Her chief beauty lies in the expression of her splendidly
+developed figure. Her choicest gifts are the health and virtue
+which most abound in the free life of God's country.</p>
+
+<br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>"God made the country, and man made
+the town.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>What wonder, then, that health and
+virtue, gifts</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>That can alone make sweet the
+bitter draught</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>That life holds out to all, should
+most abound</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And least be threatened in the
+fields and groves."<a name='FNanchor_2_21'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_2_21'><sup>[2]</sup></a></span><br>
+<br>
+<p>A study of the lines of the picture will show the artistic
+beauty of the composition. You may trace a long beautiful curve
+beginning at the girl's finger tip and extending along the cord
+across the top of the milk jar. Starting from the same point
+another good line follows the arm and shoulder across the face and
+along the edge of the jar. At the base of the composition we find
+corresponding lines which may be drawn from the toe of the right
+foot. One follows the diagonal of the path and the other runs along
+the edge of the lifted skirt.</p>
+
+<p>There are other fine lines in the drawing of the bodice and the
+folds of the skirt. Altogether they are as few in number and as
+strongly emphasized, though not so grand, as those of the
+Sower.</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+ <a name='Footnote_1_20'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_20'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>The title of Water-Carrier has been incorrectly attached to this
+picture, though the sketch on which it is based is properly known
+as the Milkmaid.</p>
+</div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_2_21'></a><a href='#FNanchor_2_21'>[2]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>From Cowper's <i>Task</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='thewomanchurning'></a>
+<h2>XIV</h2>
+
+<h3>THE WOMAN CHURNING</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>Again we are in the picturesque province of Normandy, and are
+shown the interior of a dairy where a woman is busy churning. It is
+a quaint place, with raftered ceiling and stone-paved floor, and
+the furnishings are only such as are required by the work in hand.
+On some wooden shelves against the farther wall are vessels of
+earthenware and metal, to hold cream, cheese, butter, and the like.
+The churn is one of the old-fashioned upright sort, not unlike
+those used in early New England households, and large enough to
+contain a good many quarts of cream. The woman stands beside it,
+grasping with both hands the handle of the dasher, or plunger,
+which is worked up and down to keep the cream in motion and so
+change it into butter.</p>
+
+<p>In the beginning of the churning process the movement of the
+dasher is slow, so that the cream may be thoroughly mixed. Then it
+goes more rapidly for a time, till, just as the arms grow weary,
+the butter begins to "come," when the speed slackens to the end,
+the entire process occupying thirty or forty minutes. The butter
+collects in yellow lumps, which are at length taken from the churn,
+washed and kneaded to press out the buttermilk, and then moulded
+into pats. The pleasure of the finishing touches makes up for the
+fatiguing monotony of the churning. George Eliot, in the novel of
+"Adam Bede," gives a charming description of Hetty Sorrel's
+butter-making, with all the pretty attitudes and movements of
+patting and rolling the sweet-scented butter into moulds.</p>
+
+<img src="images/womanchurning.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co. John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc. THE WOMAN CHURNING"
+ align="right">
+
+<p>We can hardly tell, from the attitude of the woman in our
+picture, how far her work has progressed, but her expression of
+satisfaction seems to show that the butter is "coming" well. The
+work of butter-making varies curiously at different times.
+Sometimes the butter comes quickly and easily, and again, only
+after long and laborious delays. There seems, indeed, no rule about
+the process; it appears to be all a matter of "luck." Country
+people have always been very superstitious in regard to it; and not
+understanding the true reasons for a successful or an unsuccessful
+churning, they attribute any remarkable effects to supernatural
+agencies.</p>
+
+<p>In the old days of witchcraft superstitions, they used to think
+that when the cream did not readily turn to butter, the churn had
+been tampered with by some witch, like Mabel Martin's mother in
+Whittier's poem. Witches were sometimes supposed to work a baleful
+charm on the milk by putting under the doorsill some magical
+object, such as a picture of a toad or a lizard.</p>
+
+<p>In Scotland, when churning was easy it was because of the secret
+help of the "brownie." He was a tiny, elf-like creature who lived
+in the barn and was never seen of men; but his presence was made
+known by his many deeds of helpfulness in kitchen and dairy, for
+which he was rewarded by a daily bowl of milk. Those who have read
+George MacDonald's story of Sir Gibbie remember how the little waif
+from the city was mistaken for a brownie because he secretly helped
+in the churning.</p>
+
+<p>In France a pious class of peasants pray to St. Blaise for a
+blessing on their various farm occupations, including the dairy
+work. A hymn written to the saint contains this
+petition:&mdash;</p>
+
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>"In our dairies, curds and
+cream</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And fair cheeses may we
+see:</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Great St. Blaise, oh, grant our
+plea."<a name='FNanchor_1_22'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_1_22'><sup>[1]</sup></a></span><br>
+
+
+<p>Some such prayer as this may be running through the mind of the
+woman in our picture. She has the earnest and simple character
+which belongs to the Norman peasant. Hers is a kindly nature, too,
+and the cat rubs familiarly against her as if sure of a friend who
+has often set a saucer of milk in his way. With sleeves rolled up
+and skirts tucked about her, she attacks her work in a strong,
+capable way which shows that it is a pleasure. The light comes from
+some high window at the left, and, gleaming on her arms, shows how
+firm and hard the flesh is.</p>
+
+<p>We know that this is a Norman peasant woman from her tall cap.
+There are many styles of caps peculiar to different parts of
+France, but those worn in Normandy are remarkable for their height.
+When some of the people of this province emigrated to the western
+continent and settled in Acadia, the land of Evangeline, the women
+brought their caps with them and continued to wear them many years,
+as we read in Longfellow's "Evangeline."</p>
+
+<p>Our previous studies of the other pictures of this collection
+help us to see at once the good points of composition in the Woman
+Churning. The main lines of the group in the foreground form a tall
+pyramid. The shape of the churn gives us the line at the right
+side, and the figure of the cat carries the line of the woman's
+skirt into a corresponding slant on the left. The lines of the
+tiled floor add to the pyramidal effect by converging in
+perspective. Even the broom leaning against the shelf near the door
+takes the same diagonal direction as the tiles of the right
+side.</p>
+
+<p>We have here also a new illustration of the art of treating
+inclosed spaces.<a name='FNanchor_2_23'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_2_23'><sup>[2]</sup></a> An outlet is given to the room
+through the door opening into the farmyard. Across the yard stands
+a low cow-shed, in which a woman is seated milking a cow. This
+building, however, does not altogether block up the view from the
+dairy door. Above the roof is a strip of sky, and through a square
+window at the back is seen a bit of the meadow.</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<a name='Footnote_1_22'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_22'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>From Ronsard's "Hymn to St. Blaise," translated by Henry Naegely
+in <i>J.F. Millet and Rustic Art</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_2_23'></a><a href='#FNanchor_2_23'>[2]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>See chapters ii. and vi.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='themanwiththehoe'></a>
+<h2>XV</h2>
+
+<h3>THE MAN WITH THE HOE</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>To the peasant farmer every month of the year brings its own
+labors. From seed time to harvest there is a constant succession of
+different tasks, and hardly is the harvest gathered in before it is
+time to prepare again for planting. Before ploughing can be begun
+the fields must first be cleared of stubble and weeds. Now in
+Millet's village of Barbizon, this clearing of the fields was done,
+in his day, by means of an implement called in French a
+<i>houe</i>. Although we translate the word as hoe, the tool is
+quite unlike the American article of that name. It looks a little
+like a carpenter's adze, though much larger and heavier, the blade
+being as broad as that of a shovel. The handle is short and the
+implement is very clumsy and fatiguing to use. Even the stoutest
+peasant finds the work wearisome.</p>
+
+<p>The man in our picture has paused for a moment's rest in this
+toilsome labor, and leans panting on his hoe. In the heat of his
+toil he has thrown off his hat and blouse, which now lie together
+on the ground behind him. His damp hair is matted together on his
+forehead, his brawny chest is exposed by the open shirt, his horny
+hands are clasped over the hoe handle. Some distant object catches
+his eye. It may be a farm wagon moving across the plain, or perhaps
+a bird flying through the clear air. To follow the course of such
+an object a moment is a welcome change from the monotonous rise and
+fall of the hoe.</p>
+
+<p>It is a rough and uneven field in which the laborer works,
+rising here and there in small hillocks, and thickly overgrown with
+brambles and coarse tufts of herbage. When these weeds are loosened
+from the soil, they are raked in little heaps and burned. In the
+field just back of this is a circle of these bonfires, sending up
+their columns of smoke towards the sky. A young woman is busy
+raking together the piles. In the distance she looks like a
+priestess of ancient times presiding at some mystic rites of fire
+worship. Far beyond, a shapely tree is outlined against the
+horizon.</p>
+
+<img src="images/manwithhoe.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co. John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc. THE MAN WITH THE HOE"
+ align="left">
+
+<p>To study this picture profitably, we must consider separately
+the subject and the artistic qualities. These two elements in a
+work of art are often confused, but are in reality quite distinct.
+Very unpleasant subjects have sometimes been employed in pictures
+of great artistic merit, and again beautiful subjects have
+sometimes been treated very indifferently. When great art is united
+with a great subject, we have ideal perfection; but poor art and a
+poor subject together are intolerable. Now some people think only
+of the subject when they look at a picture, and others, more
+critical, look only at the qualities of art it contains. The best
+way of all is to try to understand something of both.</p>
+
+<p>In the first glance at this picture we do not find the subject
+very attractive. The laborer is awkward, he is stupid looking, and
+he is very weary. If we are to look at laborers, we like to see
+them graceful, intelligent, and active like the Sower. As a
+redeeming quality, the Man with the Hoe has a certain patient
+dignity which commands our respect, but with all that, we do not
+call it a pleasant subject.</p>
+
+<p>But look a moment at the strong, noble outlines of the drawing
+and see how finely modelled is the figure. So carefully did Millet
+study this work that he first modelled the figure in clay that he
+might give it more vitality in the painting. This Man with the Hoe
+seems indeed not a painted figure, but a real living, breathing
+human being, whom we can touch and find of solid flesh and
+blood.</p>
+
+<p>We must note, too, how grandly the figure is thrown out against
+the sky and the plain. There is something to observe, also, in the
+proportions of the man to the background. The broad pyramid made by
+the bending figure and the hoe needs plenty of space at each side
+to set it off, hence the oblong shape of the picture. These, and
+other artistic qualities not so easily observed and understood, all
+give the picture "a place among the greater artistic conceptions of
+all time."</p>
+
+<p>The Man with the Hoe has probably caused more discussion than
+any other of Millet's paintings. From the very first those who care
+only for the subject of a picture have condemned it, while the
+critics have praised its artistic qualities. Many have thought that
+Millet made the subject as unpleasant as possible in order to show
+the degrading effects of work. The same theory was suggested when
+the Sower and the Gleaners appeared. The painter himself was much
+troubled by these misunderstandings. "I have never dreamed of being
+a pleader in any cause," he said. He simply painted life as he saw
+it, and had no thought of teaching strange doctrines against labor.
+Indeed, no man ever felt more deeply than he the dignity of
+labor.</p>
+
+<p>When everything which could be said for or against the picture
+had been exhausted on the other side of the Atlantic, the picture
+was brought to this country and finally to the State of California.
+Here the discussion began all over again. There were those who were
+so impressed by the unpleasant character of the subject that they
+could not find words strong enough to express their horror. The Man
+with the Hoe was called "a monstrous thing distorted and
+soul-quenched," a "dread" and "terrible" shape, "a thing that
+grieves not and that never hopes," a "brother to the ox," and many
+other things which would have surprised and grieved Millet.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, any one to whom the pathos of the subject itself
+appeals so strongly can have little thought for the artistic
+qualities of the picture. So Edwin Markham, the writer of the poem
+from which these expressions are quoted, lets the subject lead him
+on into an impassioned protest against "the degradation of
+labor,&mdash;the oppression of man by man,"&mdash;all of which has
+nothing to do with the picture.</p>
+
+<p>Millet was not one to care at all for what he called "pretty"
+subjects, as we have already seen in studying the picture of the
+Milkmaid. "He felt that only by giving to his figures the
+expression and character which belonged to their condition could he
+obey the laws of beauty in art, for he knew that a work of art is
+beautiful only when it is homogeneous."<a name=
+'FNanchor_1_24'></a><a href='#Footnote_1_24'><sup>[1]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>This was the theory which he put into practice in the Man with
+the Hoe, and one who understands well both his theories and his art
+sums up the great painting in these words: "The noble proportions
+of the figure alone would give this work a place among the greater
+artistic conceptions of all time, while the severe and simple
+pathos of this moment of respite in the interminable earth
+struggle, invests it with a sublimity which belongs to eternal
+things alone." <a name='FNanchor_2_25'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_2_25'><sup>[2]</sup></a></p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+ <a name='Footnote_1_24'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_24'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>Pierre Millet in the <i>Century</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_2_25'></a><a href='#FNanchor_2_25'>[2]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>Henry Naegely.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='theportraitofmillet'></a>
+<h2>XVI</h2>
+
+<h3>THE PORTRAIT OF MILLET</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>In studying the works of any great painter many questions
+naturally arise as to the personality of the man himself and the
+influences which shaped his life. Some such questions have already
+been answered as we have examined these fifteen pictures by Millet.
+Jean Fran&ccedil;ois Millet, we have learned, was of peasant
+parentage and spent the greater part of his life in the country.
+His pious Norman ancestors bequeathed him a rich heritage of strong
+and serious traits. From them, too, he drew that patience and
+perseverance which helped him to overcome so many obstacles in his
+career.</p>
+
+<p>In the surroundings of his childhood he saw no pictures and
+heard nothing of art or artists. Yet at a very early age he showed
+a remarkable talent for drawing. His artistic temperament was
+inherited from his father, who was a great lover of music and of
+everything beautiful. "Look," he sometimes said, plucking a blade
+of grass and showing it to his little boy, "how beautiful this is."
+His grandmother, too, had a true poetic vein in her nature. She
+would come to the child's bedside in the morning, calling, "Wake
+up, my little Fran&ccedil;ois, you don't know how long the birds
+have been singing the glory of God." In such a family the youth's
+gifts were readily recognized, and he was sent to Cherbourg, the
+nearest large town, to learn to be a painter. Here, and later in
+Paris, he received instruction from various artists, but his
+greatest teacher was Nature. So he turned from the schools of
+Paris, and the artificial standards of his fellow artists there, to
+study for himself, at first hand, the peasant life he wished to
+portray. What a delightful place Barbizon was for such work we have
+seen from some of his pictures.</p>
+
+<p>It was during the fruitful years of work at Barbizon that Millet
+made the crayon portrait of himself which is reproduced as our
+frontispiece. He was a large, strong, deep-chested man, somewhat
+above the medium height. An admirer has described him as "one of
+nature's noblemen," and his younger brother Pierre says he was
+"built like a Hercules." He had an inherent distaste for fine
+clothes which he showed even in boyhood. When he grew to be a
+painter, and returned to visit his family in Gr&eacute;ville, the
+villagers were scandalized to see the city artist appear in their
+streets in blouse and sabots.</p>
+
+<p>As we see in the portrait, Millet had long wavy hair, falling
+over his shoulders, and a thick black beard. His forehead was high
+and intelligent, and his nose delicately cut and sensitive. His
+eyes were gray-blue, of the kind which look a man through and
+through and which nothing escapes. The artist had so trained these
+wonderful eyes of his that he had only to turn them on a scene to
+photograph the impression indelibly on his memory.</p>
+
+<p>The face that we see in the portrait is that of a thinker, a
+poet, and an artist. It is the face of one who held intimate
+converse with the great poets of the ages, of one whose favorite
+books were the Bible, Virgil, Theocritus and Shakespeare. Though
+Millet had many genial traits in his nature, his expression here is
+profoundly serious. Such an expression tells much of the inner life
+of the man. His pictures were too original to be popular at once,
+and while he waited for purchasers he found it hard to support his
+family. His anxieties wore upon his health, and he was subject to
+frequent headaches of frightful severity. Nor was the struggle with
+poverty his only trial. He had to contend constantly against the
+misconceptions and misrepresentations of hostile critics.</p>
+
+<p>He was of too stern a nature and too loyal to his ideals to vary
+a hair's breadth from his course, yet criticism embittered him.
+"Give me signboards to paint, if you will," he exclaimed, "but at
+least let me think out my subjects in my own fashion and finish the
+work that I have to do, in peace."</p>
+
+<p>Like all who have great originality, Millet lived in a world of
+his own, and had but a few congenial friends. To such friends,
+however, and in the inner circle of his home, he opened his great
+and tender heart, and all who knew him loved him.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13119 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #13119 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13119)
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Jean Francois Millet, by Estelle M. Hurll
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Jean Francois Millet
+
+Author: Estelle M. Hurll
+
+Release Date: August 5, 2004  [eBook #13119]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JEAN FRANCOIS MILLET***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Leah Moser, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
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+      See 13119-h.htm or 13119-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/1/1/13119/13119-h/13119-h.htm)
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+
+
+
+
+
+JEAN FRANÇOIS MILLET
+
+A Collection of Fifteen Pictures and a Portrait of the Painter,
+with Introduction and Interpretation
+
+by
+
+ESTELLE M. HURLL
+
+The Riverside Art Series
+
+1900
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: JEAN FRANÇOIS MILLET]
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+In making a selection of Millet's pictures, devoted as they are to
+the single theme of French peasant life, variety of subject can be
+obtained only by showing as many phases of that life as possible.
+Our illustrations therefore represent both men and women working
+separately in the tasks peculiar to each, and working together in the
+labors shared between them. There are in addition a few pictures of
+child life.
+
+The selections include a study of the field, the dooryard, and
+the home interior, and range from the happiest to the most sombre
+subjects. They show also considerable variety in artistic motive and
+composition, and taken together fairly represent the scope of Millet's
+work.
+
+ESTELLE M. HURLL. NEW BEDFORD, MASS. March, 1900.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS AND LIST OF PICTURES
+
+
+PORTRAIT OF MILLET. DRAWN BY HIMSELF
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+     I.   ON MILLET'S CHARACTER AS AN ARTIST
+
+     II.  ON BOOKS OF REFERENCE
+
+     III. HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF THE PICTURES OF THIS COLLECTION
+
+     IV.  OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN MILLET'S LIFE
+
+     V.   SOME OF MILLET'S ASSOCIATES
+
+I.    GOING TO WORK
+
+II.   THE KNITTING LESSON
+
+III.  THE POTATO PLANTERS
+
+IV.   THE WOMAN SEWING BY LAMPLIGHT
+
+V.    THE SHEPHERDESS
+
+VI.   THE WOMAN FEEDING HENS
+
+VII.  THE ANGELUS
+
+VIII. FILLING THE WATER-BOTTLES
+
+IX.   FEEDING HER BIRDS
+
+X.    THE CHURCH AT GRÉVILLE
+
+XI.   THE SOWER
+
+XII.  THE GLEANERS
+
+XIII. THE MILKMAID
+
+XIV.  THE WOMAN CHURNING
+
+XV.   THE MAN WITH THE HOE
+
+XVI.  THE PORTRAIT OF MILLET
+
+PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY OF PROPER NAMES AND FOREIGN WORDS
+
+NOTE: All the pictures were made from carbon prints by Braun, Clément & Co.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+I. ON MILLET'S CHARACTER AS AN ARTIST
+
+
+The distinctive features of Millet's art are so marked that the most
+inexperienced observer easily identifies his work. As a painter of
+rustic subjects, he is unlike any other artists who have entered the
+same field, even those who have taken his own themes. We get at the
+heart of the matter when we say that Millet derived his art directly
+from nature. "If I could only do what I like," he said, "I would paint
+nothing that was not the result of an impression directly received
+from nature, whether in landscape or in figure." His pictures are
+convincing evidence that he acted upon this theory. They have a
+peculiar quality of genuineness beside which all other rustic art
+seems forced and artificial.
+
+The human side of life touched him most deeply, and in many of his
+earlier pictures, landscape was secondary. Gradually he grew into
+the larger conception of a perfect harmony between man and his
+environment. Henceforth landscape ceased to be a mere setting or
+background in a figure picture, and became an organic part of the
+composition. As a critic once wrote of the Shepherdess, "the earth
+and sky, the scene and the actors, all answer one another, all hold
+together, belong together." The description applies equally well to
+many other pictures and particularly to the Angelus, the Sower, and
+the Gleaners. In all these, landscape and figure are interdependent,
+fitting together in a perfect unity.
+
+As a painter of landscapes, Millet mastered a wide range of the
+effects of changing light during different hours of the day. The mists
+of early morning in Filling the Water-Bottles; the glare of noonday in
+the Gleaners; the sunset glow in the Angelus and the Shepherdess;
+the sombre twilight of the Sower; and the glimmering lamplight of
+the Woman Sewing, each found perfect interpretation. Though showing
+himself capable of representing powerfully the more violent aspects of
+nature, he preferred as a rule the normal and quiet.
+
+In figure painting Millet sought neither grace nor beauty, but
+expression. That he regarded neither of these first two qualities as
+intrinsically unworthy, we may infer from the grace of the Sower, and
+the naïve beauty of the Shepherdess and the Woman Sewing. But that
+expression was of paramount interest to him we see clearly in the
+Angelus and the Man with the Hoe. The leading characteristic of his
+art is strength, and he distrusted the ordinary elements of prettiness
+as taking something from the total effect he wished to produce. "Let
+no one think that they can force me to prettify my types," he said. "I
+would rather do nothing than express myself feebly."
+
+It was always his first aim to make his people look as if they
+belonged to their station. The "mute inglorious Milton" and Maud
+Muller with her "nameless longings" had no place on his canvases. His
+was the genuine peasant of field and farm, no imaginary denizen of the
+poets' Arcady. "The beautiful is the fitting," was his final summary
+of æsthetic theory, and the theory was put into practice on every
+canvas.
+
+In point of composition Millet's pictures have great excellence. "I
+try not to have things look as if chance brought them together," he
+said, "but as if they had a necessary bond between them." So nothing
+is accidental, but every object, however small, is an indispensable
+part of the whole scheme.
+
+An important characteristic of his work is its power to suggest
+the third dimension of space. The figures have a solid, tangible
+appearance, as if actually alive. The Gleaners, the Woman Churning,
+and the Man with the Hoe are thoroughly convincing in their reality.
+
+The picture of the Gleaners especially has that so-called "quality of
+circumambient light" which circulates about the objects, so to speak,
+and gives them position in space. Millet's landscapes also have
+a depth of spaciousness which reaches into infinite distance. The
+principles of composition are applied in perspective as well as
+laterally. We can look into the picture, through it, and beyond it, as
+if we were standing in the presence of nature.
+
+Mr. Bernhard Berenson goes so far as to say that this art of "space
+composition," as he terms it, can "directly communicate religious
+emotion," and explains on this ground the devotional influence of
+Perugino's works, which show so remarkable a feeling for space.[1]
+If he is right, it is on this principle, rather than because of its
+subject, that the Angelus is, as it has sometimes been called, "one of
+the greatest religious paintings of the age."
+
+While Millet's art is, in its entirety, quite unique, there are
+certain interesting points of resemblance between his work and that of
+some older masters. He is akin to Rembrandt both in his indifference
+to beauty and in his intense love of human nature. Millet's
+indifference to beauty is the more remarkable because in this he stood
+alone in his day and generation, while in the northern art of the
+seventeenth century, of which Rembrandt is an exponent, beauty was
+never supreme.
+
+As a lover of human nature, Millet's sympathies, though no less
+intense than Rembrandt's, were less catholic. His range of observation
+was limited to peasant life, while the Dutch master painted all
+classes and conditions of men. Yet both alike were profound students
+of character and regarded expression as the chief element of beauty.
+Rembrandt, however, sought expression principally in the countenance,
+and Millet had a fuller understanding of the expressiveness of the
+entire body. The work of each thus complements that of the other.
+
+Millet's passion for figure expression was first worked out in
+painting the nude. When he abandoned such subjects for the homelier
+themes of labor, he gave no less attention to the study of form and
+attitude. The simple clothing of the peasant is cut so loosely as to
+give entire freedom of motion to the body, and it is worn so long
+that it shapes itself perfectly to the figure. The body thus clad
+is scarcely inferior to the nude in assuming the fine lines of an
+expressive pose.
+
+Millet's instinct for pose was that of a sculptor. Many of the
+figures for his pictures were first carefully modelled in wax or clay.
+Transferred to canvas they are drawn in the strong simple outlines of
+a statue. It is no extravagant flight of fancy which has likened him
+to Michelangelo. In the strength and seriousness of his conceptions,
+the bold sweep of his lines, and, above all, in the impression of
+motion which he conveys, he has much in common with the great Italian
+master. Like Michelangelo, Millet gives first preference to the
+dramatic moment when action is imminent. The Sower is in the act of
+casting the seed into the ground, as David is in the act of stretching
+his sling. As we look, we seem to see the hand complete its motion. So
+also the Gleaners, the Women Filling the Water-Bottles, and the Potato
+Planters are all portrayed in attitudes of performance.
+
+When Millet represents repose it is as an interval of suspended
+action, not as the end of completed work. The Shepherdess pauses but
+a moment in her walk and will immediately move on again. The man and
+woman of the Angelus rest only for the prayer and then resume their
+work. The Man with the Hoe snatches but a brief respite from his
+labors. The impression of power suggested by his figure, even in
+immobility, recalls Michelangelo's Jeremiah.
+
+To the qualities which are reminiscent of Michelangelo Millet adds
+another in which he is allied to the Greeks. This is his tendency
+towards generalization. It is the typical rather than the individual
+which he strives to present. "My dream," he once wrote, "is to
+characterize the type." So his figures, like those of Greek sculpture,
+reproduce no particular model, but are the general type deduced from
+the study of many individuals.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: In _Central Italian Painters of the Renaissance_.]
+
+
+
+
+II. ON BOOKS OF REFERENCE
+
+
+Since the death of Millet, in 1875, much that is interesting and
+valuable has been written of his life and work. The first biography
+of the painter was that by his friend Sensier, in a large illustrated
+volume whose contents have been made familiar to English readers by an
+abridged translation published in this country simultaneously with
+the issue of the French edition. Containing all the essential facts of
+Millet's outward life, besides a great number of the artist's letters,
+together with his autobiographical reminiscences of childhood,
+Sensier's work is the principal source of information, from which all
+later writers draw. Yet it is not an altogether fair and satisfactory
+presentation of Millet's life. Undue emphasis is laid upon his
+struggles with poverty, and the book leaves much to be desired.
+
+Julia Cartwright's recent work, "Jean François Millet: His Life and
+Letters," is founded on Sensier's life, yet rounds out the study of
+the master's character and work with the fuller knowledge with which
+family and friends have described his career.
+
+Another recent book called "J.F. Millet and Rustic Art" is by
+Henry Naegely (published in England), and is critical rather than
+biographical in purport. It is a sympathetic appreciation of Millet's
+art and character, and grows out of a careful study of the painter's
+works and an intimate connection with the Millet family.
+
+Besides these books devoted exclusively to the subject, the life work
+of Millet is admirably sketched in brief form in the following more
+general works:--
+
+Richard Muther's "History of Modern Painting," Mrs. Stranahan's
+"History of French Painting," Rose G. Kingsley's "History of French
+Art," and D.C. Thomson's "Barbizon School."
+
+Of great importance to the student of Millet are the various articles
+contributed to the magazines by those who knew and understood the
+painter. The following are of special note: By Edward W. Wheelwright,
+in "The Atlantic Monthly," September, 1876; by Wyatt Eaton, in the
+"Century," May, 1889; by T.H. Bartlett, in "Scribner's," May and June,
+1890; by Pierre Millet, in "Century," January, 1893, and April, 1894;
+and by Will Low, in "McClure's," May, 1896. Julia Cartwright, in the
+preface to the above mentioned biography, mentions other magazine
+articles not so generally accessible.
+
+
+
+
+III. HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF THE PICTURES OF THIS COLLECTION
+
+
+_Portrait frontispiece_, a life-size crayon made by Millet in 1847
+and given to his friend Charlier. It afterwards became the property of
+Sensier..
+
+1. _Going to Work_, one of several versions of the subject in
+different mediums, oil, pastel, drawing, and etching. This picture was
+painted in 1851, and was at one time (1891) in a private collection in
+Glasgow.[1] It is to be distinguished from the picture of 1850, where
+the woman carries a pitcher instead of a rope.[2]
+
+2. _The Knitting Lesson_, a drawing corresponding in general
+composition, with some changes of detail, to the small painting (17 by
+14-1/2 in.) of the subject in the collection of Mrs. Martin Brimmer,
+in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
+
+3. _The Potato Planters_, painted in 1862, and exhibited at the
+great exhibition at Paris of that year, also again in 1867 at the
+International Exhibition. It changed hands for large sums during
+the painter's lifetime, and is now in the Quincy A. Shaw collection,
+Boston, Mass.
+
+4. _The Woman Sewing by Lamplight_, painted in 1872, and sold in 1873
+for 38,500 francs, the highest price at that time ever paid for one of
+Millet's works.
+
+5. _The Shepherdess_, painted in 1862, and exhibited at the Salon of
+1864, also again at the Exposition Universelle of 1867. It is now in
+the collection of M. Chauchard.
+
+6. _The Woman Feeding Hens_, a charcoal sketch, corresponding in
+general composition to the description of a painting bearing the same
+name, which was painted in 1854 for M. Letrône for 2000 francs.
+
+7. _The Angelus_, an oil painting measuring 25 by 21 in. The first
+drawing for the picture was sold February, 1858. The painting was
+completed for exhibition in the Salon of 1859. It was declined by the
+patron for whom it was intended, and finally sold to a Belgian artist
+in 1860, and soon afterwards to the Belgian minister. The original
+price was 2000 francs. The picture passed from one owner to another,
+and in 1873 was bought by J.W. Wilson for 50,000 francs, later
+bringing at the Wilson sale of 1881 the sum of £6400. In an auction
+sale of the Secrétan collection, July, 1889, there was an immense
+excitement over the contest between the French government, represented
+by M. Proust, Director of Fine Arts, and various American dealers, who
+were determined to win the prize. It was finally knocked down to M.
+Proust for 553,000 francs, but the French government refused to ratify
+the purchase, and the picture was brought to the United States. Here
+the customs duty exacted was so enormous (£7000) that the picture
+remained only six months (the duty being waived during that period),
+and after being exhibited throughout the country finally returned to
+France, where it was purchased for £32,000 by M. Chauchard, who has
+the finest collection of Millets in existence.
+
+8. _Filling the Water-Bottles,_ a charcoal drawing, which attracted
+much attention when exhibited in the Millet collection of the Paris
+Exposition, 1889.
+
+9. _Feeding Her Birds_, painted in 1860, and exhibited in Salon of
+1861. Presented by a purchaser to the Museum of Lille in 1871.
+
+10. _The Church at Gréville_, sketched during Millet's visit at
+Gréville in the summer of 1871; referred to by him, in a letter of
+1872, as still in process of painting; found in his studio at the
+time of his death, in 1875. The picture was bought by the French
+government, and is now in the Louvre, Paris.
+
+11. _The Sower_, the second painting of the subject, painted in 1850,
+and exhibited in the Salon of 1850-51. It is now in the Vanderbilt
+collection, New York.
+
+A pencil sketch of the Sower is in the collection of Millet's
+drawings, at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.[3]
+
+12. _The Gleaners_, a painting first exhibited at the Salon of 1867.
+It was sold to M. Binder of l'Isle Adam for 2000 francs. In 1889 it
+was purchased by Madame Pommeroy for 300,000 francs, and presented
+to the Louvre, Paris. A pencil drawing of the three figures is in the
+collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
+
+13. _The Milkmaid_, painted in 1871 from a sketch made in Gréville.
+Seen in Millet's studio in 1873 by Will Low, the American artist.
+
+14. _The Woman Churning_, one of several versions of the subject, the
+first of which appeared in 1870.
+
+15. _The Man with the Hoe_, painted in 1862 and exhibited at the Salon
+of 1863. Sold to a Belgian collector, and long in Brussels. It is now
+owned by Mr. W.S. Crocker of San Francisco, Cal.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: See D.C. Thomson's _Barbizon School_, pp. 226, 227.]
+
+[Footnote 2: See Julia Cartwright, _Life and Letters of Jean François
+Millet_, pp. 114,115.]
+
+[Footnote 3: This is one of an interesting collection of drawings in
+this museum, which also contains several original paintings by Millet,
+a Shepherdess, seated, a portrait of the painter, and others. Other
+fine Millets are in the private collections of Boston, where the
+painter received early appreciation, owing to the enthusiasm of
+William Morris Hunt, the painter, and such connoisseurs as Mr. Quincy
+Shaw and Mr. Brimmer.]
+
+
+
+
+IV. OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN MILLET'S LIFE
+
+
+1814.  Millet born, October 4, in hamlet of Gruchy, commune of Gréville, in
+        the old province of Normandy, France.
+
+1832.  Two months' study with Mouchel in Cherbourg.
+           Death of Millet's father.
+           Study with Langlois in Cherbourg.
+
+1837.  Removal to Paris, supported by annuity of 400 francs from the
+        municipality of Cherbourg.[1]
+
+1837-1839 (?). Studies with Delaroche.[2]
+
+1840.  A portrait of M.L.F. exhibited at Salon of the Louvre.
+
+1841.  Portrait of Mademoiselle Antoinette Feuardent.
+           Marriage with Mademoiselle Pauline Virginie Ono in Cherbourg.
+
+1842.  Returned to Paris.
+
+1844.  Millet exhibited at Salon: the Milkmaid, the Riding Lesson.
+           Death of Millet's wife, April 21, and Millet's return home for
+            18 months.
+
+1845.  Marriage with Catherine Lemaire late in summer, in Gréville.
+           Visit in Havre in November.
+           Arrival in Paris in December, and residence in the rue
+            Rochehouart.
+
+1847.  Oedipus taken from the Tree exhibited at the Salon.
+
+1848.  Millet exhibited at the Salon the Winnower, bought by M.
+        Ledru-Rollin for 500 francs, and the Captivity of the Jews in
+        Babylon.
+
+1849.  Removal to Barbizon.
+
+1850.  The Sower painted and exhibited at the Salon with the Sheaf Binders.
+
+1851.  Death of Millet's grandmother, Louise Jumelin, at Gruchy.
+
+1853.  Death of Millet's mother at Gruchy.
+           Millet exhibited at the Salon:--
+             Ruth and Boaz, bought by an American.
+             The Sheep Shearer,} bought by William Morris
+             The Shepherd,     } Hunt.
+
+1854.  Visit four months to the surroundings of the old home in Normandy.
+
+1855.  The Grafter, exhibited at the Salon.
+
+1856.  Le Pare aux Moutons painted.
+
+1857.  The Gleaners exhibited at the Salon.
+
+1859.  The Angelus exhibited at the Salon.
+
+1860-1861. The Shepherd in the Fold by Moonlight, and the Femme aux Seaux.
+
+1861.  The Potato Planters painted.
+           Millet exhibited at the Salon of the Champs Elysèes:
+             Feeding Her Birds.
+             Waiting.
+             The Sheep Shearer.
+
+1862.  List of pictures painted:--
+             Winter.
+             The Crows.
+             Sheep Feeding.
+             The Wool Carder.
+             The Stag.
+             The Birth of the Calf.
+             The Shepherdess.
+             The Man with the Hoe.
+
+1863.  Millet sent to Salon: Man with the Hoe, The Wool Carder (see list of
+        works in 1862), and a Shepherd bringing Home his Sheep.
+
+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 Gréville 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 Panthéon (Ste. Geneviève), 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
+circumstances are detailed.]
+
+
+
+
+V. SOME OF MILLET'S ASSOCIATES
+
+
+Companions in the studio of Delaroche:--
+  Charles François Hébert (1817- ).
+  Jalabert (1819- ).
+  Thomas Couture (1815-1879).
+  Edouard Frère (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.
+  Camprédon.
+  Séchan, clever scene painter.
+  Diéterle, clever scene painter.
+  Eugène Lacoste.
+  Azevédo, 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. Babcock, 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 François 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
+Gréville, 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 illustrating 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 fashioned.
+
+In France the farm labors are shared by men and women alike. The
+peasant woman is sturdily 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 coarse,
+but which is perfectly suited for the purpose. The French peasants'
+working clothes are usually of strong homespun cloth, fashioned 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.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. GOING TO WORK]
+
+The men wear soft felt hats, the brim of which can be pulled forward
+to shade the eyes. The women cover their heads neatly with caps or
+kerchiefs, and are nearly always seen with aprons. Men and women both
+wear the heavy wooden shoes called _sabots_, in which the feet suffer
+no pressure as from leather shoes, and are protected against the
+moisture of the ground.
+
+The peasants of our picture carry all they need for the day's work.
+A three-pronged fork rests across the man's shoulder, and a wallet of
+lunch hangs from his left arm. The woman has a basket, a linen sack,
+and a bit of rope. Evidently something is to be brought home. Just now
+she has swung the empty basket up over her shoulders and it covers her
+head like a huge sunbonnet.
+
+The two young people are full of the healthy vigor which makes work
+a pleasure. They go cheerfully to their day's task as if they really
+enjoyed it. We cannot help suspecting that they are lovers. The man
+carries himself erect with a conscious air of manliness, and steps
+briskly, with his hand thrust into his pocket. The girl hides her
+shyness in the shadow of the basket as she turns her face towards
+his. The two swing along buoyantly, keeping step as if accustomed to
+walking together.
+
+At the close of the day's work the basket and sack will be filled, and
+the laborers will return to their home by the same way. The burden may
+be heavy, but they will bear it as the reward of their toil.
+
+The picture of Going to Work was painted at about the same time[1]
+as the The Sower, which forms one of the later illustrations of our
+collection. A comparison of the pictures will show interesting points
+of resemblance between the two men striding down hill. Though Going to
+Work is not as a work of art of equal rank with The Sower, we get in
+both pictures a delightful sense of motion which makes the figures
+seem actually alive.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: That is, within a year. See dates in the _Historical
+Directory_.]
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+THE KNITTING LESSON
+
+
+In the picture we have been examining we have seen something of the
+outdoor life of the French peasants, and now we are shown the interior
+of one of their houses, where a Knitting Lesson is being given. The
+girls of the French peasantry are taught only the plainest kinds of
+needlework. They have to begin to make themselves useful very early in
+life, and knitting is a matter of special importance. In these large
+families many pairs of stockings are needed, and all must be homemade.
+This is work which the little girls can do while the mother is busy
+with heavier labors. The knitting work becomes a girl's constant
+companion, and there are few moments when her hands are idle.
+
+The little girl in our picture is still a beginner in the art, and the
+lesson is a very exciting occasion to her. Already she feels like a
+woman.
+
+The mother and daughter have their chairs by the window to get a good
+light on the work. It is a large and beautiful casement window, of the
+kind almost universal in France, opening lengthwise in the middle in
+two parts which swing on hinges like doors. The window seat serves as
+a table, to hold the basket and scissors. The doll is thrust into the
+corner; our little girl has "put away childish things"--at least for
+the moment,--and takes her task very seriously.
+
+The two chairs are drawn close together, the one a small counterpart
+of the other. The child braces her feet firmly on one of the rounds
+and bends her whole mind to her work. Both mother and daughter wear
+close white caps, though the little girl's is of a more childish
+pattern and does not cover her pretty hair in front.
+
+The mother has been sewing on some large garment which lies across
+her lap. She lets the little girl work by herself for a time, and then
+stops to set her right. Already a considerable length of stocking
+has been made, but this is a place where close attention is needed.
+Perhaps it is time to begin shaping the heel. The mother's work
+is left altogether for a moment. Putting her arm about the child's
+shoulder, she takes the two little hands in hers, and guides the
+fingers holding the needles.
+
+We get some idea of the quaint style of the building from this glimpse
+of the living-room. Probably it is a low stone cottage with thatched
+or tiled roof. The deep window seat shows how thick the walls are.
+Overhead we see the oak rafters.
+
+The room looks spotlessly clean, as a good housewife's should. Though
+we see only a corner, that corner holds the most precious household
+possession, the linen chest. It stands against the wall, and is of
+generous size. French country people take great pride in storing up a
+quantity of linen; tablecloths, sheets, shirts, pillowcases, often
+of their own weaving, are piled in the deep clothes-presses. In
+well-to-do families there are enough for six months' use, the family
+washing taking place only twice a year, in spring and fall, like
+house-cleaning in America. We judge that our housekeeper is well
+provided, by the pile of neatly folded sheets on the press. The little
+clock, high on the wall, and the vase of flowers on the chest are
+the only touches of ornament in the room. On the wall are some small
+objects which look like shuttles for weaving.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE KNITTING LESSON]
+
+As we look at the picture we feel sure that Millet was a lover of
+children, and it is pleasant to know that he had many of his own. The
+artist father was his children's favorite playmate, and at the close
+of his day's work in his studio, they ran to meet him with shouts of
+joy. He used to like to walk about the garden with them showing them
+the flowers. In winter time they sat together by the fire, and the
+father sang songs and drew pictures for the little ones. Sometimes
+taking a log from the wood basket he would carve a doll out of it, and
+paint the cheeks with vermilion. This is the sort of doll we see on
+the window seat in our picture.
+
+Ruskin tells us that a true artist feels like a caged bird in painting
+any enclosed space, unless it contains some opening like a door or
+window. No amount of beauty will content us, he says, if we are shut
+in to that alone. Our picture is a good proof of this principle. We
+can easily fancy how different the effect would be without the window:
+the room would appear almost like a prisoner's cell. As it is, the
+great window suggests the out-of-door world into which it opens, and
+gives us a sense of larger space.
+
+Our illustration is taken from a drawing. Millet was a painstaking
+artist who made many drawings and studies for his paintings. This is
+probably such a study, as there is also a painting by him of the same
+subject very similar to this.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+THE POTATO PLANTERS
+
+
+In the picture called The Potato Planters we are reminded at once
+of the peasants we have already seen in Going to Work. We see here
+married people a few years older than the young people of the other
+picture working together in the fields.
+
+It may be that this is their own little plot of ground, for they work
+with a certain air of proprietorship. They look prosperous, too, and
+are somewhat better dressed than common laborers. It is the highest
+ambition of the French peasant to own a bit of land. He will make any
+sacrifice to get it, and possessing it, is well content. He labors
+with constant industry to make it yield well.
+
+The field here is at quite a distance from the village where the
+workers live. We can see the little group of houses on the horizon. In
+France the agricultural classes do not build their dwelling-houses on
+their farms, but live instead in village communities, with the
+farms in the outlying districts. The custom has many advantages. The
+families may help one another in various ways both by joining forces
+and exchanging services. They may also share in common the use of
+church, school, and post office. This French farming system has been
+adopted in Canada, while in our own country we follow the English
+custom of building isolated farmhouses.
+
+In working season the French farmer must go daily to his labor at
+a distance. The people in our picture are fortunate enough to own
+a donkey which is their burden-bearer between house and field. The
+strong little creature can carry a heavy load properly disposed in
+pannier baskets. The panniers are made very deep and wide, but rather
+flat, so as to fit the sides of the donkey. With one of these hanging
+on each side of the saddle, the weight of the burden is so well
+distributed that it is easily borne.
+
+The donkey of our picture has been relieved of his panniers, and now
+rests in the shade of some apple-trees. One of the baskets is in the
+mean time put to a novel use. Made soft and warm with a heavy cloak,
+it forms a nice cradle for the baby. The babies in French peasant
+families are often left at home with the grandmother, while the mother
+goes out to field work. The painter Millet himself was in childhood
+the special charge of his grandmother, while his mother labored on the
+farm. The people of our picture have another and, as it seems, a much
+pleasanter plan, in going to the field as a family party.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE POTATO PLANTERS]
+
+The day is well advanced and the work goes steadily on. It is potato
+planting, and the potato crop is of great importance to country
+people, second perhaps to the wheat, as it supplies food to both man
+and beast. The commoner varieties, as the large white, are raised for
+cattle, and the finer and sweeter kinds, the red and the yellow, are
+kept for the table.
+
+The laborer and his wife move along the field, facing each other on
+opposite sides of the row they are planting. The man turns the sod
+with his hoe, a short-handled tool which long practice has taught him
+to use skilfully. The wife carries the potato seed in her apron, and
+as her husband lifts each spadeful of earth, she throws the seed into
+the hole thus made. He holds the hoe suspended a moment while the seed
+drops in, and then replaces the earth over it. The two work in perfect
+unison, each following the other's motion with mechanical regularity,
+as they move down the field together.
+
+The two who work so well together in the field are sure to work well
+together in the home. The man has the serious, capable look of a
+provident husband. The woman looks like a good housewife. That shapely
+hand throwing the seed so deftly into the ground is well adapted to
+domestic tasks.
+
+We may easily identify our picture as a familiar scene in Millet's
+Barbizon surroundings. We are told that "upon all sides of Barbizon,
+save one, the plain stretches almost literally as far as the eye can
+reach," and presents "a generally level and open surface." "There are
+no isolated farmhouses, and no stone walls, fences, or hedges,
+except immediately around the villages; and were it not all under
+cultivation, the plain might be taken for a vast common."[1]
+
+It is evident, then, that we here see the plain of Barbizon and true
+Barbizon peasants of Millet's day. The villagers of the painter's
+acquaintance were on the whole a prosperous class, nearly all owning
+their houses and a few acres of ground. The big apple-tree under which
+the donkey rests is just such an one as grew in Millet's own little
+garden.
+
+Fruit trees were his peculiar delight. He knew all their ways,
+and "all their special twists and turnings;" how the leaves of the
+apple-tree are bunched together on their twigs, and how the roots
+spread under ground. "Any artist," he used to say, "can go to the East
+and paint a palm-tree, but very few can paint an apple-tree."
+
+
+[Footnote 1: From Edward Wheelwright's _Recollections of Jean François
+Millet,_ in _Atlantic Monthly_, September, 1876.]
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+THE WOMAN SEWING BY LAMPLIGHT
+
+
+Though the peasant women of France have so large a share in the
+laborious out-of-door work on the farms, they are not unfitted for
+domestic duties. In the long winter evenings they devote themselves
+to more distinctly woman's tasks, knitting and sewing, sometimes even
+spinning and weaving. Their housekeeping is very simple, for they live
+frugally, but they know how to make the home comfortable. Many modern
+inventions are still unknown to them, and we should think their
+customs very primitive, but on this account they are perhaps even more
+picturesque.
+
+There is contentment in every line of the face of this Woman Sewing by
+Lamplight. It is the face of a happy young wife and mother. She
+sits close by her baby's bedside that she may listen to his gentle
+breathing as he sleeps, and she smiles softly to herself while she
+sews. It is a sweet face which bends over the work, and it is framed
+in the daintiest of white caps edged with a wide ruffle which is
+turned back over the hair above the forehead, that it may not shade
+her eyes.
+
+The garment that lies on her lap is of some coarse heavy material. No
+dainty bit of fancy work is this, but a plain piece of mending. It
+may be the long cloak which the shepherd wraps about him in cold and
+stormy weather. Made from the wool grown on his own sheep, spun by his
+wife's own hand, it is unrivalled among manufactured cloths for warmth
+and comfort. The needle is threaded with a coarse thread of wool,
+which the sewer draws deftly through the cloth.
+
+On a pole which runs from floor to ceiling is a hook, from which a
+lamp is suspended by a chain. This lamp appears to be a boat-shaped
+vessel with the wick coming out at one end. The light gilds the
+mother's gentle profile with shining radiance; it illumines the
+fingers of her right hand, and gleams on the coarse garment in her
+lap, transforming it into a cloth of gold.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co. THE WOMAN
+SEWING BY LAMPLIGHT John Andrew & Son, Sc.]
+
+The baby meanwhile lies on the other side of the lamp in the shadow.
+His little mouth is open, and he is fast asleep. We can almost fancy
+that the mother croons a lullaby as she sews. There is a pathetic
+little French song called La Petite Hélène, which Millet's mother used
+to sing to him, and which he in turn taught his own children. Perhaps
+we could not understand the words if we could hear it. But when
+mothers sing to their babies, whatever the tongue in which they speak,
+they use a common language of motherhood. Some such simple little
+lullaby as this, which mothers of another land sing to their babes,
+would doubtless interpret this mother's thoughts:--
+
+  "Sleep, baby, sleep!
+  Thy father watches the sheep;
+  Thy mother is shaking the dreamland tree,
+  And down comes a little dream on thee.
+  Sleep, baby, sleep!
+
+  "Sleep, baby, sleep!
+  The large stars are the sheep;
+  The little ones are the lambs, I guess:
+  The gentle moon is the shepherdess,
+  Sleep, baby, sleep!
+
+  "Sleep, baby, sleep!
+  Our Saviour loves his sheep;
+  He is the Lamb of God on high
+  Who for our sakes came down to die.
+  Sleep, baby, sleep!"
+
+When we remember that the ancient Romans had lamps constructed
+somewhat like that in the picture, it seems strange that so rude a
+contrivance should be in use in the nineteenth century. But this is
+only the practical and prosaic side of the question. For artistic
+purposes the lamp is just what is wanted in the composition.
+
+You can see how a lamp with a glass chimney and shade would spoil the
+whole effect. We should lose that strange beautiful halo surrounding
+the wick, and the light would fall only on the work, instead of
+glorifying the face of the mother. These wonderful impressions of
+light add much to the artistic beauty of the picture, and explain why
+artists have so greatly admired it.
+
+The picture naturally recalls that other Mother and Babe, Mary of
+Nazareth and the holy Child Jesus, who for so many centuries have
+inspired the imagination of artists. Often a painter has drawn his
+first conception for this sacred subject from some peasant mother and
+child such as these.
+
+In order to give religious significance to their pictures, artists
+have tried in many ways to suggest the supernatural. They have
+introduced halos about the heads of Mary and Jesus, and have made
+the light seem to shine mysteriously from the child's body. Now our
+painter Millet, representing only an ordinary mother and babe, has
+not used any such methods. Nevertheless, without going beyond strict
+reality, he has produced a mystical effect of light which makes this
+picture worthy of a place among the Madonnas. The glow of the lamp
+transforms the familiar scene into a shrine of mother's love.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+THE SHEPHERDESS
+
+
+Many years ago the early English poet, Sir Philip Sidney, wrote a book
+about an imaginary country called Arcadia, noted for the sweetness
+of the air and the gentle manners of the people. As he described the
+beauties of the scenery there, he told of "meadows enamelled with all
+sorts of eye-pleasing flowers; each pasture stored with sheep feeding
+with sober security; here a shepherd's boy piping as though he should
+never be old; there a young shepherdess knitting and withal singing,
+and it seemed that her voice comforted her hands to work, and her
+hands kept time to her voice-music."
+
+We could easily fancy that our picture of the Shepherdess was meant
+to illustrate a scene in Arcadia. Here is the meadow "enamelled with
+eye-pleasing flowers," the sheep "feeding with sober security," and
+the young shepherdess herself knitting. Though she is not singing with
+her lips, her heart sings softly as she knits, and her hands keep time
+to the dream-music.
+
+Early in the morning she led her flock out to the fallow pastures
+which make good grazing ground. All day long the sheep have nibbled
+the green herbage at their own sweet will, always under the watchful
+eye of their gentle guardian. Her hands have been busy all the time.
+Like patient Griselda in Chaucer's poem, who did her spinning while
+she watched her sheep, "she would not have been idle till she slept."
+Ever since she learned at her mother's knee those early lessons in
+knitting, she has kept the needles flying. She can knit perfectly well
+now while she follows her flock about. The work almost knits itself
+while her eyes and thoughts are engaged in other occupations.
+
+The little shepherdess has an assistant too, who shares the
+responsibilities of her task. He is a small black dog, "patient and
+full of importance and grand in the pride of his instinct."[1] When a
+sheep is tempted by an enticing bit of green in the distance to stray
+from its companions, the dog quickly bounds after the runaway and
+drives it back to the flock. Only the voice of the shepherdess is
+needed to send him hither, thither, and yon on such errands.
+
+Now nightfall comes, and it is time to lead the flock home to the
+sheepfold. The sheep are gathered into a compact mass, the ram in
+their midst. The shepherdess leads the way, and the dog remains at
+the rear, "walking from side to side with a lordly air," to allow no
+wanderer to escape.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE SHEPHERDESS]
+
+Their way lies across the plain whose level stretch is unbroken by
+fences or buildings. In the distance men may be seen loading a wagon
+with hay. The sheep still keep on nibbling as they go, and their
+progress is slow. The shepherdess takes time to stop and rest now and
+then, propping her staff in front of her while she picks up a stitch
+dropped in her knitting. There is a sense of perfect stillness in the
+air, that calm silence of the fields, which Millet once said was the
+gayest thing he knew in nature.
+
+The chill of nightfall is beginning to be felt, and the shepherdess
+wears a hood and cape. Her face shows her to be a dreamer. These
+long days in the open air give her many visions to dream of. Her
+companionship with dumb creatures makes her more thoughtful, perhaps,
+than many girls of her age.
+
+As a good shepherdess she knows her sheep well enough to call them all
+by name. From their soft wool was woven her warm cape and hood, and
+there is a genuine friendship between flock and mistress. When she
+goes before them, they follow her, for they know her voice.
+
+Among the traditions dear to the hearts of the French people is one of
+a saintly young shepherdess of Nanterre, known as Ste. Geneviève. Like
+the shepherdess of our picture, she was a dreamer, and her strange
+visions and wonderful sanctity set her apart from childhood for a
+great destiny. She grew up to be the saviour of Paris, and to-day her
+name is honored in a fine church dedicated to her memory. It was the
+crowning honor of Millet's life that he was commissioned to paint on
+the walls of this church scenes from the life of Ste. Geneviève. He
+did not live to do the work, but one cannot help believing that his
+ideals of the maiden of Nanterre must have taken some such shape as
+this picture of the Shepherdess.
+
+In the painting from which our illustration is reproduced, the colors
+are rich and glowing. The girl's dress is blue and her cap a bright
+red. The light shining on her cloak turns it a rich golden brown.
+Earth and sky are glorified by the beautiful sunset light.
+
+As we look across the plain, the earth seems to stretch away on every
+side into infinite distance. We are carried out of ourselves into the
+boundless liberty of God's great world. "The still small voice of the
+level twilight" speaks to us out of the "calm and luminous distance."
+
+Ruskin has sought to explain the strange attractive power which
+luminous space has for us. "There is one thing that it has, or
+suggests," he says, "which no other object of sight suggests in equal
+degree, and that is,--Infinity. It is of all visible things the least
+material, the least finite, the farthest withdrawn from the earth
+prison-house, the most typical of the nature of God, the most
+suggestive of the glory of his dwelling place."[2]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Like the watchdog described in Longfellow's _Evangeline_,
+Part II.]
+
+[Footnote 2: In _Modern Painters_, in chapter on "Infinity," from
+which also the other quotations are drawn.]
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+THE WOMAN FEEDING HENS
+
+
+In walking through a French village, we get as little idea of the home
+life of the people as if we were in a large town or city. The houses
+usually border directly upon the street, and the spaces between are
+closed with high walls, shutting in the thoroughfare as completely as
+in a city "block." Behind these barriers each family carries on its
+domestic affairs in the privacy of its own domain. The _cour_, or
+dooryard, is the enclosure adjoining the house, and is surrounded on
+all sides by buildings or walls. Beyond this the more prosperous have
+also a garden or orchard, likewise surrounded by high walls.
+
+In the dooryard are performed many of the duties both of the barn and
+the house. Here the cows are milked, the horses groomed, the sheep
+sheared, and the poultry fed. Here, too, is the children's playground,
+safe from the dangers of the street, and within hearing of the
+mother's voice.
+
+It is into such a dooryard that we seem to be looking in this picture
+of The Woman Feeding Hens. It is a common enough little house which
+we see, built of stone, plastered over, in the fashion of the French
+provinces, and very low. In the long wall from the door to the garden
+gate is only one small high window. But time and nature have done much
+to beautify the spot. In the cracks of the roof, thatched or tiled,
+whichever it may be, many a vagrant seed has found lodgment. The weeds
+have grown up in profusion to cover the bare little place with
+leaf and flower. Indeed, there is here a genuine roof garden of the
+prettiest sort, and it extends along the stone wall separating the
+dooryard from the garden. Some one who has seen these vine-fringed
+walls in Barbizon describes them as gay with "purple orris, stonecrop,
+and pellitory."
+
+A young wife presides in the little cottage home and rules her side
+of the dooryard with gentle sway. She has a curly-haired baby boy who
+creeps after her as she goes about her work. His inquiring mind is at
+this age investigating all the corners of the house, and before long
+he will be the young master of the dooryard.
+
+The housewife boasts a small brood of hens. Early in the morning the
+voice of the chanticleer is heard greeting the dawn. Presently
+he leads his family forth to begin their day's scratching in the
+dooryard. Here and there they wander with contented clucks, as they
+find now and then a worm or grub for a titbit. But it is only a poor
+living which is to be earned by scratching. The thrifty housewife sees
+to it that her brood are well fed. At regular times she comes out of
+the house to feed them with grain, as she is doing now.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE WOMAN FEEDING HENS]
+
+The baby hears the mother's voice saying, in what is the French
+equivalent, "Here chick-chick-chick," and creeps swiftly to the door.
+He, too, tries to call "chick-chick." He watches the odd creatures
+eagerly as they gobble up the seed. They stand about in a circle,
+heads all together in the centre, bobbing up and down as long as any
+food remains. Chanticleer holds back with true gallantry, and with an
+air of masculine superiority. The belated members of the brood come
+running up as fast as they can. The apron holds a generous supply, so
+that there is enough for all, but the housewife doles it out prudently
+by the handful, that none may suffer through the greediness of the
+others.
+
+As we study the lines of the picture a little, they teach us some
+important lessons in composition. We note first the series of
+perpendicular lines at regular intervals across the width of the
+picture. These counterbalance the effect of the long perspective which
+is so skilfully indicated in the drawing of the house and the garden
+walk. The perspective is secured chiefly by three converging lines,
+the roof and ground lines of the house, and the line of the garden
+walk. These lines if extended would meet at a single point.
+
+Once more let us recall Ruskin's teaching in regard to enclosed
+spaces.[1] The artist is unhappy if shut in by impenetrable barriers.
+There must always be, he says, some way of escape, it matters not by
+how narrow a path, so that the imagination may have its liberty.
+
+This is the principle which our painter has applied in his picture.
+He wisely gives us a glimpse of the sky above, and shows us the shady
+vista of the garden walk leading to the great world beyond.
+
+Our illustration is from a charcoal drawing, which, like the Knitting
+Lesson, is matched by a corresponding painting.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: In _Modern Painters_ in the chapter on "Infinity."]
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+THE ANGELUS
+
+
+The early twilight of autumn has overtaken two peasants at the close
+of a day's work in the field. They are gathering the potato harvest.
+The dried plants are first pulled up, and the potatoes carefully dug
+out of the holes. Then the vegetables are taken from the furrows by
+the basketful, and poured into brown linen sacks to be carried home
+on the wheelbarrow. One of these sacks is not yet quite full, and the
+work has been prolonged after sunset.
+
+The field is a long way from the village, but in the still air sounds
+are carried far across the plain. Suddenly the bell of the village
+church peals forth. The man stops digging and plunges his fork into
+the earth, and the woman hastily rises from her stooping posture. The
+Angelus bell is ringing, and it calls them to prayer.
+
+Three times each day, at sunrise, midday, and sunset, this bell
+reminds the world of the birth of Jesus Christ. The strokes are rung
+in three groups, corresponding to the three parts of The Angelus,
+which are recited in turn. The first word gives the bell its
+name,--Angelus, the Latin for angel.
+
+  "The angel of the Lord announced to Mary,
+  And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
+
+  "Behold the handmaid of the Lord,
+  Be it done unto me according to thy word.
+
+  "And the word was made flesh
+  And dwelt among us."
+
+Thus run the words of the translation in the three couplets into which
+they are separated, and then this prayer is added: "We beseech thee, O
+Lord, pour forth thy grace into our hearts; that as we have known the
+incarnation of thy Son Jesus Christ by the message of an angel, so
+by his cross and passion we may be brought into the glory of his
+resurrection, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord."
+
+Besides this, after each couplet of the Angelus, is recited that
+short hymn of praise, beginning with the words which the angel of the
+annunciation addressed to Mary,[1] "Ave Maria." This is why the hour
+after sunset is so often called the hour of Ave Maria. The English
+poet Byron has written of this solemn moment:--
+
+  "Ave Maria! blessed be the hour!
+  The time, the clime, the spot, where I so oft
+  Have felt that moment in its fullest power
+  Sink o'er the earth so beautiful and soft,
+  While swung the deep bell in the distant tower,
+  Or the faint dying day-hymn stole aloft,
+  And not a breath crept through the rosy air,
+  And yet the forest leaves seemed stirred with prayer."
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE ANGELUS]
+
+The atmosphere of prayer pervades the picture. The woman stands with
+bowed head and hands clasped over her breast. Her whole body sways
+slightly forward in the intensity of her devotion. Her husband has
+bared his head and holds his hat before him. Though he may seem
+somewhat awkward, he is not less sincerely reverent.
+
+The sunset light shines on the woman's blue apron, gilds the potato
+sacks in the wheelbarrow, and gleams along the furrows. Farther away,
+the withered plants are heaped in rows of little piles. Beyond, the
+level plain stretches to meet the glowing sky, and, outlined on the
+horizon, is the spire of the church where the bells are ringing.
+
+As the meaning of the picture grows upon us, we can almost hear the
+ringing of the bells. Indeed, to those familiar with such scenes in
+actual life, the impression is very vivid. The friend to whom Millet
+first showed his painting immediately exclaimed, "It is the Angelus."
+"Then you can hear the bells," said the artist, and was content.
+
+The solemn influence of the picture is deepened by the effects of the
+twilight on the plains. A wide outlook across a level country, like
+a view of the sea, is always impressive, but it has peculiar power
+in the vague light which follows the sunset. Many poetic natures have
+felt this mystic spell of the gloaming as it descends upon the plain.
+Robert Louis Stevenson was one of these, and upon visiting Barbizon he
+described vividly his feelings at such an hour. We are told also
+that Millet loved to walk abroad at nightfall and note the mysterious
+effects of the twilight. "It is astonishing," he once said to his
+brother in such a walk, "how grand everything on the plain appears,
+towards the approach of night, especially when we see the figures
+thrown out against the sky. Then they look like giants."
+
+In nearly all of Millet's pictures people are busy doing something.
+Either hands or feet, and sometimes both hands and feet, are in
+motion. They are pictures of action. In the Angelus, however, people
+are resting from labor; it is a picture of repose. The busy hands
+cease their work a moment, and the spirit rises in prayer. We have
+already seen, in other pictures, how labor may be lightened by love.
+Here we see labor glorified by piety.
+
+The painting of the Angelus has had a remarkable history. The patron
+for whom it was first intended was disappointed with the picture when
+finished, and Millet had no little difficulty in finding a purchaser.
+In the course of time it became one of the most popular works of the
+painter, and is probably better known in our country than any other of
+his pictures. In 1889 it was bought by an American, and was carried
+on an exhibition tour through most of the large cities of the
+United States. Finally it returned to France, where it is now in the
+collection of M. Chauchard.
+
+The Angelus is one of the few of Millet's works which have changed
+with time. The color has grown dark and the canvas has cracked
+somewhat, owing to the use of bitumen in the painting.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: "Hail Mary"; see St. Luke, chapter i., verse 28.]
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+FILLING THE WATER-BOTTLES
+
+
+The artist Millet loved to draw as well as to paint. Black and white
+pictures had their charm for him as truly as those in color. Indeed,
+he once said that "tone," which is the most important part of color,
+can be perfectly expressed in black and white. It is therefore not
+strange that he made many drawings. Some of these, like the Knitting
+Lesson and the Woman Feeding Hens, were, as we have seen, studies for
+paintings. The picture called Filling the Water-Bottles was, on the
+other hand, a charcoal drawing, corresponding to no similar painting.
+It is in itself a finished work of art.
+
+It is a typical French river scene which we see here, and it gives
+us an idea how large a part a river may take in the life of French
+country people. Sometimes it is the sole source of water for a
+village. Then it is not only the common village laundry, in which all
+clothing is washed, but it is also the great village fountain, from
+which all drinking-water is drawn.
+
+The women in our picture have come to the bank with big earthen jars
+to fill. It is in the cool of early morning, and the mist still lies
+thick over the marshes bordering the river. The sun, seen through the
+mist, looks like a round ball. On the farther bank, where a group of
+poplars grow, some horsemen ride up to ford the stream. They, too, are
+setting forth early on their day's work. One is already half across.
+
+The women have picked out, along the marshy bank, a point of land
+jutting into the river like a miniature promontory, and seemingly of
+firm soil. It is only large enough to hold one at a time, so they take
+turns. One is now filling a bottle, while the other waits, standing
+beside two jars.
+
+The first woman kneels on the ground, and supporting herself firmly
+by placing one hand on the edge of the bank, she grasps the jar by
+the handle, with her free right hand, and swings it well out over the
+water. Experience has taught her the most scientific way of filling
+the jar with least muscular strain. She does not try to plunge it down
+into the water, but holding it on its side, slightly tipped, draws it
+along with the mouth half under the surface, sucking in the water as
+it moves. We see what hard, firm muscles she has to hold the arm out
+so tensely. Her arm acts like a compass describing the arc of a circle
+through the water with the jar. As we look, we can almost see her
+completing the circle, and drawing up the full jar upon the bank.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co. FILLING THE
+WATER-BOTTLES John Andrew & Son, Sc.]
+
+The woman who waits her turn is capable of the same feat. There is
+power in every line of her figure as she stands in what has been well
+described by a critic as a "majestic pose." She straightens back
+to rest, with her arms on her hips, quite unconscious that there is
+anything fine in her appearance.
+
+Look a minute and you will see that she is the woman of the Angelus.
+As we saw her in the other picture, with head bowed and hands clasped
+on her breast, we did not realize how grand and strong she was. But
+raising her head, throwing back her chest, and putting her arms on her
+sides, she shows us now her full power.
+
+Both women are dressed alike in the clothing which is now familiar
+to us from the other pictures,--coarse gowns made with scanty skirts,
+long aprons reaching nearly to the bottom of the dress, kerchiefs
+fastened snugly about their heads, and wooden sabots. We could not
+imagine anything that would become them better. It is part of the
+French nature to understand the art of dressing, and this art is
+found just as truly among the peasants of the provinces as in the
+fashionable world at Paris.
+
+The picture is a study in black and white which any one who cares for
+drawing will wish to examine attentively. He was indeed a master who
+could, with a single bit of charcoal, make us feel the witchery of
+this early morning hour by the river-side. We note the many different
+"tones" of the picture,--the faint soft mist of the distant atmosphere
+over the marshes, growing darker on the poplars and the hilly bank in
+the middle distance; the shadow of the bank in the river; the gleam of
+the sunlight on the calm water mid-stream; the ripples about the jar;
+the sharply defined figures of the women, dark on the side turned
+from the sun; and the quivering shadow of the kneeling woman in the
+ripple-broken water in front.
+
+Among primitive peoples the hour of sunrise was a sacred time, when
+hymns were sung and sacrifices were offered to the life-giving sun.
+The painter Millet has expressed something of the mystic solemnity of
+the hour in this picture. The sun has awakened the world to work, and
+in its strength men and women go forth to labor.[1]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: A fine passage on the morning occurs in Thoreau's second
+chapter of _Walden_.]
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+FEEDING HER BIRDS
+
+
+As we have already seen in the picture of the Woman Feeding Hens, the
+dooryard in French village homes is so shut in by walls, that it
+has the privacy of a family living-room. This was the arrangement in
+Millet's own home at Barbizon. The painter was among the fortunate
+ones who had a garden beyond the dooryard. At the other end of this
+was his studio, where he worked many hours of the day. It is said
+that he used to leave the door open that he might hear the children's
+voices at their play. Sometimes, indeed, he would call them in to
+look at his pictures, and was always much pleased when they seemed to
+understand and like them. We may be sure that he often looked across
+the garden to the dooryard where the family life was going on, and
+at such times he must have caught many a pretty picture. Perhaps our
+picture of this mother feeding her children was suggested in this way.
+
+Three healthy, happy children have been playing about in the yard,--a
+girl of six, her younger sister, and a brother still younger. They are
+dressed simply, so as to enjoy themselves thoroughly without fear
+of injuring any fine clothes. All three wear long aprons and wooden
+sabots. The little girls have their flying hair confined in close
+bonnet caps tied under the chin. The boy rejoices in a round cap
+ornamented on top with a button. The sisters take great care of their
+little brother.
+
+The toys are of a very rude sort and evidently of home manufacture. A
+cart is constructed of a board set on clumsy wheels. A doll is roughly
+shaped of wood and wrapped in a hood and blanket. There is a basket
+besides, in which one can gather bits of treasure picked up here and
+there in the yard.
+
+By and by the play is interrupted by a familiar voice. The children
+look up and see their mother standing smiling in the doorway. A bowl
+which she has in her hand is still steaming, and an appetizing odor
+reminds them that they are hungry. The basket and the cart are hastily
+dropped, but not the doll, and they all run to the doorstep. The
+brother is placed in the middle and the sisters seat themselves
+on either side. The elder girl still holds her doll with maternal
+solicitude; the other two children clasp hands, and the sister's arm
+is put around the boy's neck.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. FEEDING HER BIRDS]
+
+Meanwhile the mother has seated herself directly in front of them, on
+a low stool such as is used by country people as a milking-stool. She
+tips it a little as she leans over to feed the children in turn from a
+long-handled wooden spoon. Of course the first taste is for the little
+brother, and he stretches out his neck eagerly, opening his mouth wide
+so as not to lose a drop. The sisters look on eagerly, the younger one
+opening her own mouth a little, quite unconsciously. An inquisitive
+hen runs up to see what good things there are to eat. In the garden
+beyond, the father works busily at his spading.
+
+The name which Millet gave to this picture is the French word
+_Becquée_, which cannot be translated into any corresponding word in
+English. It means a _beakful_, that is, the food which the mother bird
+holds in her beak to give to the nestlings.
+
+The painter had in mind, you see, a nestful of birds being fed. The
+similarity between the family and the bird life is closely carried
+out in the picture. The children sit together as snugly as birds in
+a nest. The mother bends toward them in a brooding attitude which
+is like the bird mother's. Her extended hand suggests a bird's beak,
+tapering to a sharp point at the end of the spoon. The young bird's
+mouth is wide open, and in pops the nice spoonful of broth! The
+house itself is made to look like a cosy little nest by the vine that
+embowers it. The sturdy stem runs up close by the doorstep and sends
+out over door and window its broad branches of beautiful green leaves.
+
+And just as the father bird watches the nest from his perch on some
+branch of the tree, the father at work in the garden can look from
+time to time at the little family circle in the doorway. As in the
+picture of the Woman Feeding Hens, the house is built of stone covered
+with plaster. The door casing is of large ill-matched blocks of stone.
+The dooryard is made to appear much larger by the glimpse of the
+orchard we get through the gateway. No out-of-door picture is complete
+which does not show something of the beauty of nature. The dooryard
+itself would be a bare place but for the shady garden beyond.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+THE CHURCH AT GRÉVILLE
+
+
+The village-commune of Gréville has nothing to make it famous except
+that it was the birthplace of the painter Millet. It is at the tip
+of Cape La Hague, which juts abruptly from the French coast into the
+English channel. The cape is a steep headland bristling with granite
+rocks and needles, and very desolate seen from the sea. Inland it is
+pleasant and fruitful, with apple orchards and green meadows.
+
+The village life centres about the church, for the inhabitants of
+Grenville are a serious and God-fearing people. The church is the spot
+around which cluster the most sacred associations of life. Here the
+babies are baptized, and the youths and maidens confirmed; here
+the young people are married, and from here young and old alike are
+carried to their last resting-place. The building is hallowed by the
+memories of many generations of pious ancestors.
+
+The Millet family lived in an outlying hamlet (Gruchy) of Grenville,
+and were somewhat far from the church. Yet they had even more
+associations with it than other village families. Here our painter's
+father had early shown his talent for music at the head of the choir
+of boys who sang at the Sunday service. Here at one time his old
+uncle priest, Charles Millet, held the office of vicar and went every
+morning to say mass.
+
+Among the earliest recollections of Jean François was a visit to the
+church of Gréville at a time when some new bells had just been bought.
+They were first to be baptized, as was the custom, before being hung
+in the tower, and it was while they still stood on the ground that the
+mother brought her little boy to see them. "I well remember how much
+I was impressed," he afterwards said, "at finding myself in so vast a
+place as the church, which seemed even more immense than our barn, and
+how the beauty of the big windows, with their lozenge-shaped panes,
+struck my imagination."
+
+At the age of twelve the boy went to be confirmed at the church
+of Gréville, and thenceforth had another memorable experience to
+associate with the place. The vicar, who questioned him, found him so
+intelligent that he offered to teach him Latin. The lessons led to the
+poems of Virgil, which opened a new world to him.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE CHURCH AT GRÉVILLE]
+
+Years passed; the boy became a man and the man became a famous artist.
+But the path to fame had been a toilsome one, and as Millet pressed on
+his way he was able to return but seldom to the spots he had loved
+in his youth, and then only on sad errands. At length the time
+came (1871) when the artist brought his entire family to his native
+Grenville to spend a long summer holiday. Millet made many sketches
+of familiar scenes which gave him material for work for the next three
+years. One of these pictures was that of the village church, which
+he began to paint sitting at one of the windows of the inn where the
+family were staying.
+
+If the building had lost the grandeur it possessed for his childish
+imagination, it was still full of artistic possibilities for a
+beautiful picture.
+
+It is a solid structure, and we fancy that the builders did not have
+far to bring the stone of which it is composed. The great granite
+cliffs which rise from the sea must be an inexhaustible quarry.
+The building is low and broad, to withstand the bleak winds. A less
+substantial structure, perched on this plateau, would be swept over
+the cliffs into the sea. There is something about it suggestive of the
+sturdy character of the Norman peasants themselves, strong, patient,
+and enduring. It is very old; the passing years have covered the walls
+with moss, and nature seems to have made the place her own. It is as
+if, instead of being built with hands, it were a portion of the old
+cliffs themselves.
+
+The grassy hillock against which the church nestles is filled with
+graves, a cross here and there marking the place where some more
+important personage is buried. Here is the sacred spot where Millet's
+saintly old grandmother was laid to rest. A rough stone wall surrounds
+the churchyard, as old and moss-grown as the building itself. Some
+stone steps leading into the yard are hollowed by the feet of many
+generations of worshippers. In the rear is a low stone house embowered
+in trees.
+
+The square bell-tower lifts a weather-vane against the sky, and the
+birds flock about it as about an old home. The rather steep roof is
+slightly depressed, as if beginning to sink in.
+
+With a painter's instinct Millet chose the point of view from which
+all the lines of the church would be most beautiful and whence we may
+see to the best advantage the quaint outlines of the tower. Beside
+this, he took for his work the day and hour when that great artist,
+the sun, could lend most effective help. So we see the simple little
+building at its best. The sky makes a glorious background, with fleecy
+clouds delicately veiling its brilliancy. The bright light throws
+a shadow of the tower across the roof, breaking the monotony of its
+length. The bareness of the big barn-like end is softened by the
+shadow in which it is seen. The plain side is decorated with the
+shadows of the buttresses and window embrasures.
+
+The sheep are as much at home here as the birds. They nibble
+contentedly in the road by the wall, and are undisturbed by the
+approach of a villager. Beyond, at the left, is a glimpse of the level
+stretch of the sea. This is a spot where earth and sky and water meet,
+where the fishermen from the sea and the ploughmen from the fields
+come to worship God.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+THE SOWER
+
+
+It is nightfall, and the sky is cloudy save where the last rays of the
+setting sun illumine a spot on the horizon. While the light lasts,
+the Sower still holds to his task of sowing the seed. A large sack of
+grain is fastened about his body and hangs at his left side, where one
+end of it is grasped firmly in the left hand lest any of the precious
+seed be spilled. Into this bag he plunges his right hand from time to
+time, and draws out a handful of grain which he flings into the furrow
+as he walks along.
+
+The Sower's task ended, a series of strange transformations begins in
+the life of the seed. The winter rain softens and swells it, and when
+spring comes it pushes its way up in a tiny shoot. Soon the slender
+blades appear in close lines; by and by the stalks grow tall and
+strong, and the field is full of the beautiful green grain.
+
+Then the hot summer sun shines with ripening power; the wheat turns a
+golden yellow; the ears bend under the weight of the grain, and it is
+time for the harvest. The reapers come with sickle and scythe, and
+the grain is cut, and bound into great sheaves. The thrashing follows,
+when the ear is shaken off the stalk, and the grain is winnowed. And
+now the mills take up the work, the golden wheat grains are crushed,
+and the fine white flour which they contain is sifted and put into
+bags. The flour is mixed and kneaded and baked, and at length comes
+forth from the oven a fragrant loaf of bread.
+
+Now bread is a necessity of life to the people, and the supply of
+bread turns on the history of the seed. If the harvest is plenty, the
+people may eat and be happy. If it is poor, they suffer the miseries
+of hunger. If it fails altogether, they die of starvation. It is then
+a solemn moment when the seed is planted. Often the sower begins
+his task by tossing a handful of grain into the air in the sign of a
+cross, offering a prayer for a blessing on the seed. His is a grave
+responsibility; every handful of seed means many loaves of bread for
+hungry mouths. He must choose the right kind of seed for his soil, the
+right kind of weather for the planting, and use the grain neither too
+lavishly nor too sparingly.[1]
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE SOWER]
+
+This is why the Sower in our picture takes his task so seriously. He
+carries in his hand the key to prosperity. He is a true king. Peasant
+though he is, he feels the dignity of his calling, and bears himself
+royally. He advances with a long swinging stride, measuring his steps
+rhythmically as if beating time to inaudible music. His right arm
+moves to and fro, swinging from the shoulder as on a pivot, and
+describing the arc of a circle.
+
+The hilly field in which he works is such as the painter Millet was
+familiar with in his peasant childhood in Normandy. A yoke of oxen are
+drawing the plough in the distance, as is the custom in that province.
+The Sower himself is a true Norman peasant.
+
+It is interesting to trace the outlines of the composition. There
+is first the long line on the Sower's right side, beginning at the
+shoulder and following the outer edge of the right leg to the ground.
+On the other side, curving to meet this, is a line which begins at the
+top of the head, follows the left arm and the overhanging sack, and
+is faintly continued by the tiny stream of seed which leaks from the
+corner of the bag and falls near the Sower's foot. Crossing these
+curves in the opposite direction are the lines of the right arm and
+the left leg. Thus the figure is painted in strong simple outlines
+such as we see in the statues by great sculptors.
+
+The line defining the edge of the field against the sky, sloping in
+the direction in which the Sower walks, adds to the impression of
+motion which is so strongly suggested by the picture. As we look, we
+almost expect to see the Sower reach the foot of the slope, and stride
+out of sight, still flinging the grain as he goes.
+
+There is another thing to note about the composition, and that is
+the perfect proportion of the single figure to the canvas which it so
+completely fills. This was the result of the painter's experiments.
+In the haste of his first inspiration he did not allow space enough to
+surround the Sower.[2] He then carefully traced the figure on a larger
+canvas and made a second picture. Afterwards the same subject was
+repeated in a Barbizon landscape.
+
+Our American poet William Cullen Bryant has written a poem called
+"The Song of the Sower," which is very suggestive in connection with
+Millet's painting.[3] This is the way the song ends:--
+
+  "Brethren, the sower's task is done,
+  The seed is in its winter bed.
+  Now let the dark-brown mould be spread,
+  To hide it from the sun,
+  And leave it to the kindly care
+  Of the still earth and brooding air,
+  As when the mother, from her breast,
+  Lays the hushed babe apart to rest,
+  And shades its eyes, and waits to see
+  How sweet its waking smile will be.
+  The tempest now may smite, the sleet
+  All night on the drowned furrow beat,
+  And winds that, from the cloudy hold,
+  Of winter breathe the bitter cold,
+  Stiffen to stone the yellow mould,
+    Yet safe shall lie the wheat;
+  Till, out of heaven's unmeasured blue
+  Shall walk again the genial year,
+  To wake with warmth and nurse with dew
+  The germs we lay to slumber here."
+
+
+[Footnote 1: For farmer's lore as to the diverse soils and diverse
+planting seasons, see Virgil's _Eclogues_, books i. and ii.]
+
+[Footnote 2: In spite of this imperfection the first Sower is a highly
+prized painting and is in the Quincy-Shaw Collection, Boston.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Compare also Victor Hugo's poem, often referred to in
+descriptions of this picture, _Saison des Semailles: Le Soir_.]
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+THE GLEANERS
+
+
+It is harvest time on a large farm. The broad fields have been shorn
+of their golden grain, and men and women are still busy gathering
+it in. The binders have tied the wheat in sheaves with withes, the
+sheaves are piled upon a wagon and carried to a place near the farm
+buildings, where they are stacked in great mounds resembling enormous
+soup tureens. The overseer rides to and fro on his horse giving orders
+to the laborers.
+
+Now come the gleaners into the field to claim the time-honored
+privilege of gathering up the scattered ears still lying on the
+ground. The custom dates back to very early times.[1] The ancient
+Hebrews had a strict religious law in regard to it: "When ye reap
+the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the
+corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any
+gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to
+the stranger."[2] Another law says that the gleanings are "for the
+fatherless and for the widow; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in
+all the work of thine hands."[3]
+
+This generous practice is still observed in France. The owner of a
+grain field would be afraid of bad luck to the harvest if he should
+refuse to let the gleaners in after the reapers. Gleaning is, however,
+allowed only in broad daylight, that no dishonest persons may carry
+away entire sheaves.
+
+It is near noon of a summer day, and the sun is high in the heavens,
+casting only small shadows about the feet. The gleaners are three
+women of the poorer peasant class. They are tidily dressed in their
+coarse working clothes, and wear kerchiefs tied over their heads, with
+the edge projecting a little over the forehead to shade the eyes. The
+dresses are cut rather low in the neck, for theirs is warm work.
+
+They make their way through the coarse stubble, as sharp as needles,
+gathering here and there a stray ear of the precious wheat. Already
+they have collected enough to make several little bundles, tied
+neatly, and piled together on the ground at one side.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE GLEANERS]
+
+As we look at them closely we see that they represent the three ages
+of womanhood: there is a maiden, a matron, and an old woman. The
+nearest figure, standing at the right, is the eldest of the three. She
+cannot bear the strain of stooping long at a time, and bends stiffly
+and painfully to her task. Next her is a solidly built woman, with
+square figure and a broad back capable of bearing heavy burdens. Those
+strong large hands have done hard work. The third figure is that of
+a young woman with a lithe, girlish form. With a girl's thought for
+appearance she has pinned her kerchief so that the ends at the back
+form a little cape to shield her neck from the burning sun. Unlike
+her companions, she wears no apron. While the others use their aprons
+doubled up to form sacks for their gleanings, she holds her grain in
+her hand.
+
+If you will try in turn each one of the positions taken by the several
+figures, you will see how differently the three work. The two who put
+the grain in the apron, or pass it into the hand which rests on the
+knee, must every time lift themselves up with an awkward backward
+motion. The younger gleaner has found a short and direct route from
+one hand to the other, by resting the left hand, palm up, upon the
+back, where the right can reach it by a simple upward motion of the
+arm which requires no exertion of the body. Her method saves the
+strength and is more graceful.
+
+Moving forward in the stooping posture, with eyes fixed upon the
+ground, the figures of the gleaners have been compared to great
+grasshoppers, making their odd, irregular, hopping progress across the
+field. Even as we look they seem to move toward us.
+
+The picture is a fine study in lines. The middle figure is constructed
+in a square outline, and this square effect is emphasized in various
+ways,--by the right angle formed between the line across the bust and
+the right arm, by the square corner between chin and neck, and by the
+square shape of the kerchief at the back of the head. We thus get an
+idea of the solid, prosaic character of the woman herself.
+
+The younger woman is a creature of beautiful curves. The lines of her
+back and bust flow together in an oval figure which the position of
+the left arm completes. The outstretched right arm continues the fine
+line across the back. The lovely curve of the throat, the shapeliness
+of the hand, even the pretty adjustment of the kerchief, lend added
+touches to the charm of the youthful figure.
+
+The lines of the standing figure curve towards the other two, and
+carry the composition to sufficient height. The lines enclosing the
+entire group form a mound-like figure not unlike a wheat stack in
+shape. A wheat stack faintly seen across the distance in the centre of
+the field marks the apex of the mound, the sides being formed by the
+outer lines of the two outer figures.
+
+When we compare the picture with the others we have seen in the same
+general style of composition, showing a level plain with figures in
+front, we note how much more detail the background of the Gleaners
+contains. This is because the figures do not come above the horizon
+line, as do those in the Angelus and Shepherdess. Hence the eye must
+be led upward by minor objects, to take in the entire panorama spread
+before us.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: See the Book of Ruth.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Leviticus, chapter xxiii., verse 22.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Deuteronomy, chapter xxiv., verse 19.]
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+THE MILKMAID[1]
+
+
+All through the years of Millet's life and work in Barbizon, his
+thoughts used to turn often to the little village in Normandy where
+he spent his youth. His early life in the fields impressed upon his
+memory all the out-of-door sights peculiar to his native province. The
+customs of peasants in France differ in the various provinces just
+as do ours in the various states. Some of the household utensils in
+Millet's childhood's home were such as he never saw elsewhere,
+and always remembered with pleasure. The ways of doing the work in
+Gréville were not altogether like the ways of Barbizon, and Millet's
+observant eye and retentive memory noted these differences with
+interest. When he revisited his home in later life, he made careful
+sketches of some of the jugs and kitchen utensils used in the family.
+He even carried off to his Barbizon studio one particular brass jar
+which was used when the girl went to the field to milk cows. He also
+sketched a girl carrying a jug of milk on her shoulder in the
+fashion of the place. Out of such studies was made our picture of the
+Milkmaid. "Women in my country carry jars of milk in that way," said
+the painter when explaining the picture to a visitor at his studio,
+and went on to tell of other features of the life in Normandy, which
+he reproduced in his pictures, though some of them he had not seen in
+all the long time since his boyhood. As a reminiscence of Normandy the
+Milkmaid is a companion piece to the Sower. There are other points of
+resemblance between the two pictures, as we shall see.
+
+The day draws to its close in splendor, and the western sky is all
+aflame. Against this brilliant background the figure of the Milkmaid
+looms up grandly as she advances along the path through the meadow.
+She is returning from the field which lies on the other slope of the
+hill. There the cows are pastured and a rude fence marks the boundary.
+The girl has been out for the milking, and a cow near the fence turns
+its head in the direction of her retreating figure.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co, John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE MILKMAID]
+
+The milk is carried in a large jar on the left shoulder. By holding
+the left arm akimbo, hand resting on the hip, the girl makes her
+shoulder a little broader, as it were, enlarging the support of the
+jar. The way in which the burden is kept in place is very interesting.
+To put up the right arm to steady it would be impossible, for the arm
+is not long enough to insure a firm grasp upon so heavy a weight. So
+a cord or strap is passed through the handle of the jar, carried over
+the head, and held in the right hand. The strong arm is stretched
+tense to keep the strap tight. The head must of course be protected
+from the straining of the cord, the shoulder from the pressure of
+the jar. Both are therefore well padded. The head pad resembles a cap
+hanging in lappets on each side. Even with this protection the girl's
+face shows the strain.
+
+A picture like this teaches us that there are other ways of giving
+a figure beauty than by making the face pretty. Just as Millet's
+Shepherdess differs altogether from the little Bopeep of the nursery
+tale, so this peasant girl is not at all like the pretty milkmaids
+who carry milking-stools and shining pails through the pages of the
+picture books. Millet had no patience with such pictures. Pretty girls
+were not fit for hard work, he said, and he always wanted to have the
+people he painted look as if they belonged to their station. Fitness
+was in his mind one of the chief elements of beauty.
+
+So he shows us in this Milkmaid a young woman framed in the massive
+proportions of an Amazon, and eminently fitted for her lot in life.
+Her chief beauty lies in the expression of her splendidly developed
+figure. Her choicest gifts are the health and virtue which most abound
+in the free life of God's country.
+
+  "God made the country, and man made the town.
+  What wonder, then, that health and virtue, gifts
+  That can alone make sweet the bitter draught
+  That life holds out to all, should most abound
+  And least be threatened in the fields and groves."[2]
+
+A study of the lines of the picture will show the artistic beauty of
+the composition. You may trace a long beautiful curve beginning at the
+girl's finger tip and extending along the cord across the top of the
+milk jar. Starting from the same point another good line follows the
+arm and shoulder across the face and along the edge of the jar. At the
+base of the composition we find corresponding lines which may be drawn
+from the toe of the right foot. One follows the diagonal of the path
+and the other runs along the edge of the lifted skirt.
+
+There are other fine lines in the drawing of the bodice and the folds
+of the skirt. Altogether they are as few in number and as strongly
+emphasized, though not so grand, as those of the Sower.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: The title of Water-Carrier has been incorrectly attached
+to this picture, though the sketch on which it is based is properly
+known as the Milkmaid.]
+
+[Footnote 2: From Cowper's _Task_.]
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+THE WOMAN CHURNING
+
+
+Again we are in the picturesque province of Normandy, and are shown
+the interior of a dairy where a woman is busy churning. It is a
+quaint place, with raftered ceiling and stone-paved floor, and the
+furnishings are only such as are required by the work in hand. On some
+wooden shelves against the farther wall are vessels of earthenware and
+metal, to hold cream, cheese, butter, and the like. The churn is one
+of the old-fashioned upright sort, not unlike those used in early New
+England households, and large enough to contain a good many quarts of
+cream. The woman stands beside it, grasping with both hands the handle
+of the dasher, or plunger, which is worked up and down to keep the
+cream in motion and so change it into butter.
+
+In the beginning of the churning process the movement of the dasher
+is slow, so that the cream may be thoroughly mixed. Then it goes more
+rapidly for a time, till, just as the arms grow weary, the butter
+begins to "come," when the speed slackens to the end, the entire
+process occupying thirty or forty minutes. The butter collects in
+yellow lumps, which are at length taken from the churn, washed and
+kneaded to press out the buttermilk, and then moulded into pats. The
+pleasure of the finishing touches makes up for the fatiguing monotony
+of the churning. George Eliot, in the novel of "Adam Bede," gives a
+charming description of Hetty Sorrel's butter-making, with all
+the pretty attitudes and movements of patting and rolling the
+sweet-scented butter into moulds.
+
+We can hardly tell, from the attitude of the woman in our picture, how
+far her work has progressed, but her expression of satisfaction seems
+to show that the butter is "coming" well. The work of butter-making
+varies curiously at different times. Sometimes the butter comes
+quickly and easily, and again, only after long and laborious delays.
+There seems, indeed, no rule about the process; it appears to be all
+a matter of "luck." Country people have always been very superstitious
+in regard to it; and not understanding the true reasons for a
+successful or an unsuccessful churning, they attribute any remarkable
+effects to supernatural agencies.
+
+In the old days of witchcraft superstitions, they used to think that
+when the cream did not readily turn to butter, the churn had been
+tampered with by some witch, like Mabel Martin's mother in Whittier's
+poem. Witches were sometimes supposed to work a baleful charm on the
+milk by putting under the doorsill some magical object, such as a
+picture of a toad or a lizard.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE WOMAN CHURNING]
+
+In Scotland, when churning was easy it was because of the secret help
+of the "brownie." He was a tiny, elf-like creature who lived in the
+barn and was never seen of men; but his presence was made known by
+his many deeds of helpfulness in kitchen and dairy, for which he
+was rewarded by a daily bowl of milk. Those who have read George
+MacDonald's story of Sir Gibbie remember how the little waif from
+the city was mistaken for a brownie because he secretly helped in the
+churning.
+
+In France a pious class of peasants pray to St. Blaise for a blessing
+on their various farm occupations, including the dairy work. A hymn
+written to the saint contains this petition:--
+
+  "In our dairies, curds and cream
+  And fair cheeses may we see:
+  Great St. Blaise, oh, grant our plea."[1]
+
+Some such prayer as this may be running through the mind of the woman
+in our picture. She has the earnest and simple character which belongs
+to the Norman peasant. Hers is a kindly nature, too, and the cat rubs
+familiarly against her as if sure of a friend who has often set a
+saucer of milk in his way. With sleeves rolled up and skirts tucked
+about her, she attacks her work in a strong, capable way which shows
+that it is a pleasure. The light comes from some high window at the
+left, and, gleaming on her arms, shows how firm and hard the flesh is.
+
+We know that this is a Norman peasant woman from her tall cap. There
+are many styles of caps peculiar to different parts of France, but
+those worn in Normandy are remarkable for their height. When some of
+the people of this province emigrated to the western continent and
+settled in Acadia, the land of Evangeline, the women brought their
+caps with them and continued to wear them many years, as we read in
+Longfellow's "Evangeline."
+
+Our previous studies of the other pictures of this collection help us
+to see at once the good points of composition in the Woman Churning.
+The main lines of the group in the foreground form a tall pyramid. The
+shape of the churn gives us the line at the right side, and the figure
+of the cat carries the line of the woman's skirt into a corresponding
+slant on the left. The lines of the tiled floor add to the pyramidal
+effect by converging in perspective. Even the broom leaning against
+the shelf near the door takes the same diagonal direction as the tiles
+of the right side.
+
+We have here also a new illustration of the art of treating inclosed
+spaces.[2] An outlet is given to the room through the door opening
+into the farmyard. Across the yard stands a low cow-shed, in which
+a woman is seated milking a cow. This building, however, does not
+altogether block up the view from the dairy door. Above the roof is a
+strip of sky, and through a square window at the back is seen a bit of
+the meadow.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: From Ronsard's "Hymn to St. Blaise," translated by Henry
+Naegely in _J.F. Millet and Rustic Art_.]
+
+[Footnote 2: See chapters ii. and vi.]
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+THE MAN WITH THE HOE
+
+
+To the peasant farmer every month of the year brings its own labors.
+From seed time to harvest there is a constant succession of different
+tasks, and hardly is the harvest gathered in before it is time to
+prepare again for planting. Before ploughing can be begun the fields
+must first be cleared of stubble and weeds. Now in Millet's village of
+Barbizon, this clearing of the fields was done, in his day, by means
+of an implement called in French a _houe_. Although we translate the
+word as hoe, the tool is quite unlike the American article of that
+name. It looks a little like a carpenter's adze, though much larger
+and heavier, the blade being as broad as that of a shovel. The handle
+is short and the implement is very clumsy and fatiguing to use. Even
+the stoutest peasant finds the work wearisome.
+
+The man in our picture has paused for a moment's rest in this toilsome
+labor, and leans panting on his hoe. In the heat of his toil he has
+thrown off his hat and blouse, which now lie together on the ground
+behind him. His damp hair is matted together on his forehead, his
+brawny chest is exposed by the open shirt, his horny hands are clasped
+over the hoe handle. Some distant object catches his eye. It may be a
+farm wagon moving across the plain, or perhaps a bird flying through
+the clear air. To follow the course of such an object a moment is a
+welcome change from the monotonous rise and fall of the hoe.
+
+It is a rough and uneven field in which the laborer works, rising here
+and there in small hillocks, and thickly overgrown with brambles and
+coarse tufts of herbage. When these weeds are loosened from the soil,
+they are raked in little heaps and burned. In the field just back of
+this is a circle of these bonfires, sending up their columns of smoke
+towards the sky. A young woman is busy raking together the piles. In
+the distance she looks like a priestess of ancient times presiding
+at some mystic rites of fire worship. Far beyond, a shapely tree is
+outlined against the horizon.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clément & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE MAN WITH THE HOE]
+
+To study this picture profitably, we must consider separately the
+subject and the artistic qualities. These two elements in a work
+of art are often confused, but are in reality quite distinct. Very
+unpleasant subjects have sometimes been employed in pictures of great
+artistic merit, and again beautiful subjects have sometimes been
+treated very indifferently. When great art is united with a great
+subject, we have ideal perfection; but poor art and a poor subject
+together are intolerable. Now some people think only of the subject
+when they look at a picture, and others, more critical, look only at
+the qualities of art it contains. The best way of all is to try to
+understand something of both.
+
+In the first glance at this picture we do not find the subject very
+attractive. The laborer is awkward, he is stupid looking, and he
+is very weary. If we are to look at laborers, we like to see them
+graceful, intelligent, and active like the Sower. As a redeeming
+quality, the Man with the Hoe has a certain patient dignity which
+commands our respect, but with all that, we do not call it a pleasant
+subject.
+
+But look a moment at the strong, noble outlines of the drawing and see
+how finely modelled is the figure. So carefully did Millet study this
+work that he first modelled the figure in clay that he might give it
+more vitality in the painting. This Man with the Hoe seems indeed not
+a painted figure, but a real living, breathing human being, whom we
+can touch and find of solid flesh and blood.
+
+We must note, too, how grandly the figure is thrown out against
+the sky and the plain. There is something to observe, also, in the
+proportions of the man to the background. The broad pyramid made by
+the bending figure and the hoe needs plenty of space at each side to
+set it off, hence the oblong shape of the picture. These, and other
+artistic qualities not so easily observed and understood, all give the
+picture "a place among the greater artistic conceptions of all time."
+
+The Man with the Hoe has probably caused more discussion than any
+other of Millet's paintings. From the very first those who care only
+for the subject of a picture have condemned it, while the critics have
+praised its artistic qualities. Many have thought that Millet made
+the subject as unpleasant as possible in order to show the degrading
+effects of work. The same theory was suggested when the Sower and
+the Gleaners appeared. The painter himself was much troubled by these
+misunderstandings. "I have never dreamed of being a pleader in any
+cause," he said. He simply painted life as he saw it, and had no
+thought of teaching strange doctrines against labor. Indeed, no man
+ever felt more deeply than he the dignity of labor.
+
+When everything which could be said for or against the picture had
+been exhausted on the other side of the Atlantic, the picture was
+brought to this country and finally to the State of California. Here
+the discussion began all over again. There were those who were so
+impressed by the unpleasant character of the subject that they could
+not find words strong enough to express their horror. The Man with
+the Hoe was called "a monstrous thing distorted and soul-quenched," a
+"dread" and "terrible" shape, "a thing that grieves not and that never
+hopes," a "brother to the ox," and many other things which would have
+surprised and grieved Millet.
+
+Of course, any one to whom the pathos of the subject itself appeals
+so strongly can have little thought for the artistic qualities of the
+picture. So Edwin Markham, the writer of the poem from which
+these expressions are quoted, lets the subject lead him on into an
+impassioned protest against "the degradation of labor,--the oppression
+of man by man,"--all of which has nothing to do with the picture.
+
+Millet was not one to care at all for what he called "pretty"
+subjects, as we have already seen in studying the picture of the
+Milkmaid. "He felt that only by giving to his figures the expression
+and character which belonged to their condition could he obey the laws
+of beauty in art, for he knew that a work of art is beautiful only
+when it is homogeneous."[1]
+
+This was the theory which he put into practice in the Man with the
+Hoe, and one who understands well both his theories and his art sums
+up the great painting in these words: "The noble proportions of the
+figure alone would give this work a place among the greater artistic
+conceptions of all time, while the severe and simple pathos of this
+moment of respite in the interminable earth struggle, invests it with
+a sublimity which belongs to eternal things alone." [2]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Pierre Millet in the _Century_.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Henry Naegely.]
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+THE PORTRAIT OF MILLET
+
+
+In studying the works of any great painter many questions naturally
+arise as to the personality of the man himself and the influences
+which shaped his life. Some such questions have already been answered
+as we have examined these fifteen pictures by Millet. Jean François
+Millet, we have learned, was of peasant parentage and spent the
+greater part of his life in the country. His pious Norman ancestors
+bequeathed him a rich heritage of strong and serious traits. From
+them, too, he drew that patience and perseverance which helped him to
+overcome so many obstacles in his career.
+
+In the surroundings of his childhood he saw no pictures and heard
+nothing of art or artists. Yet at a very early age he showed a
+remarkable talent for drawing. His artistic temperament was inherited
+from his father, who was a great lover of music and of everything
+beautiful. "Look," he sometimes said, plucking a blade of grass
+and showing it to his little boy, "how beautiful this is." His
+grandmother, too, had a true poetic vein in her nature. She would come
+to the child's bedside in the morning, calling, "Wake up, my little
+François, you don't know how long the birds have been singing the
+glory of God." In such a family the youth's gifts were readily
+recognized, and he was sent to Cherbourg, the nearest large town,
+to learn to be a painter. Here, and later in Paris, he received
+instruction from various artists, but his greatest teacher was Nature.
+So he turned from the schools of Paris, and the artificial standards
+of his fellow artists there, to study for himself, at first hand, the
+peasant life he wished to portray. What a delightful place Barbizon
+was for such work we have seen from some of his pictures.
+
+It was during the fruitful years of work at Barbizon that Millet
+made the crayon portrait of himself which is reproduced as our
+frontispiece. He was a large, strong, deep-chested man, somewhat above
+the medium height. An admirer has described him as "one of nature's
+noblemen," and his younger brother Pierre says he was "built like
+a Hercules." He had an inherent distaste for fine clothes which he
+showed even in boyhood. When he grew to be a painter, and returned to
+visit his family in Gréville, the villagers were scandalized to see
+the city artist appear in their streets in blouse and sabots.
+
+As we see in the portrait, Millet had long wavy hair, falling over
+his shoulders, and a thick black beard. His forehead was high and
+intelligent, and his nose delicately cut and sensitive. His eyes were
+gray-blue, of the kind which look a man through and through and which
+nothing escapes. The artist had so trained these wonderful eyes of his
+that he had only to turn them on a scene to photograph the impression
+indelibly on his memory.
+
+The face that we see in the portrait is that of a thinker, a poet, and
+an artist. It is the face of one who held intimate converse with the
+great poets of the ages, of one whose favorite books were the Bible,
+Virgil, Theocritus and Shakespeare. Though Millet had many genial
+traits in his nature, his expression here is profoundly serious. Such
+an expression tells much of the inner life of the man. His pictures
+were too original to be popular at once, and while he waited for
+purchasers he found it hard to support his family. His anxieties wore
+upon his health, and he was subject to frequent headaches of frightful
+severity. Nor was the struggle with poverty his only trial. He had to
+contend constantly against the misconceptions and misrepresentations
+of hostile critics.
+
+He was of too stern a nature and too loyal to his ideals to vary a
+hair's breadth from his course, yet criticism embittered him. "Give me
+signboards to paint, if you will," he exclaimed, "but at least let
+me think out my subjects in my own fashion and finish the work that I
+have to do, in peace."
+
+Like all who have great originality, Millet lived in a world of his
+own, and had but a few congenial friends. To such friends, however,
+and in the inner circle of his home, he opened his great and tender
+heart, and all who knew him loved him.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JEAN FRANCOIS MILLET***
+
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+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Jean Francois Millet, by Estelle M. Hurll</title>
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+<body>
+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Jean Francois Millet, by Estelle M. Hurll</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: Jean Francois Millet</p>
+<p>Author: Estelle M. Hurll</p>
+<p>Release Date: August 5, 2004  [eBook #13119]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JEAN FRANCOIS MILLET***</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h3>E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Leah Moser,<br>
+    and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</h3>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr class="full" noshade>
+<br>
+<center><a name="selfportrait"><img src="images/selfportrait.jpg"
+alt="JEAN FRAN&Ccedil;OIS MILLET"></a></center>
+
+<center>The Riverside Art Series</center>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h1>JEAN FRAN&Ccedil;OIS MILLET</h1>
+
+<h2>A COLLECTION OF FIFTEEN PICTURES<br>
+AND A PORTRAIT OF THE PAINTER<br>
+WITH INTRODUCTION AND<br>
+INTERPRETATION</h2>
+
+<h3>BY</h3>
+
+<h2>ESTELLE M. HURLL</h2>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<h4>1900</h4>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<h2>PREFACE</h2>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>In making a selection of Millet's pictures, devoted as they are
+to the single theme of French peasant life, variety of subject can
+be obtained only by showing as many phases of that life as
+possible. Our illustrations therefore represent both men and women
+working separately in the tasks peculiar to each, and working
+together in the labors shared between them. There are in addition a
+few pictures of child life.</p>
+
+<p>The selections include a study of the field, the dooryard, and
+the home interior, and range from the happiest to the most sombre
+subjects. They show also considerable variety in artistic motive
+and composition, and taken together fairly represent the scope of
+Millet's work.</p>
+
+<p>ESTELLE M. HURLL.</p>
+
+<p>NEW BEDFORD, MASS.</p>
+
+<p>March, 1900.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<h2>CONTENTS AND LIST OF PICTURES</h2>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3">
+<p><a href="#selfportrait">PORTRAIT OF MILLET. DRAWN BY
+HIMSELF</a></p>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td colspan="3">INTRODUCTION</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td>I.</td>
+<td><a href="#character">ON MILLET'S CHARACTER AS AN ARTIST</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td>II.</td>
+<td><a href="#reference">ON BOOKS OF REFERENCE</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td>III.</td>
+<td><a href="#directory">HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF THE PICTURES OF
+THIS COLLECTION</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td>IV.</td>
+<td><a href="#outlinetable">OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS
+IN MILLET'S LIFE</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td>V.</td>
+<td><a href="#associates">SOME OF MILLET'S ASSOCIATES</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>I.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#goingtowork">GOING TO WORK</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>II.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#theknittinglesson">THE KNITTING
+LESSON</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>III.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#thepotatoplanters">THE POTATO
+PLANTERS</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>IV.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#thewomansewingbylamplight">THE WOMAN
+SEWING BY LAMPLIGHT</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>V.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#theshepherdess">THE SHEPHERDESS</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>VI.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#thewomanfeedinghens">THE WOMAN FEEDING
+HENS</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>VII.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#theangelus">THE ANGELUS</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>VIII.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#fillingthewaterbottles">FILLING THE
+WATER-BOTTLES</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>IX.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#feedingherbirds">FEEDING HER BIRDS</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>X.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#thechurchatgreville">THE CHURCH AT
+GR&Eacute;VILLE</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>XI.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#thesower">THE SOWER</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>XII.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#thegleaners">THE GLEANERS</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>XIII.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#themilkmaid">THE MILKMAID</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>XIV.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#thewomanchurning">THE WOMAN CHURNING</a>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>XV.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#themanwiththehoe">THE MAN WITH THE
+HOE</a> </td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>XVI.</td>
+<td colspan="2"><a href="#theportraitofmillet">THE PORTRAIT OF
+MILLET</a> </td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>NOTE: All the pictures were made from carbon prints by Braun,
+Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<h2>INTRODUCTION</h2>
+
+<a name="character"></a>
+<h3>I. ON MILLET'S CHARACTER AS AN ARTIST</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>The distinctive features of Millet's art are so marked that the
+most inexperienced observer easily identifies his work. As a
+painter of rustic subjects, he is unlike any other artists who have
+entered the same field, even those who have taken his own themes.
+We get at the heart of the matter when we say that Millet derived
+his art directly from nature. "If I could only do what I like," he
+said, "I would paint nothing that was not the result of an
+impression directly received from nature, whether in landscape or
+in figure." His pictures are convincing evidence that he acted upon
+this theory. They have a peculiar quality of genuineness beside
+which all other rustic art seems forced and artificial.</p>
+
+<p>The human side of life touched him most deeply, and in many of
+his earlier pictures, landscape was secondary. Gradually he grew
+into the larger conception of a perfect harmony between man and his
+environment. Henceforth landscape ceased to be a mere setting or
+background in a figure picture, and became an organic part of the
+composition. As a critic once wrote of the Shepherdess, "the earth
+and sky, the scene and the actors, all answer one another, all hold
+together, belong together." The description applies equally well to
+many other pictures and particularly to the Angelus, the Sower, and
+the Gleaners. In all these, landscape and figure are
+interdependent, fitting together in a perfect unity.</p>
+
+<p>As a painter of landscapes, Millet mastered a wide range of the
+effects of changing light during different hours of the day. The
+mists of early morning in Filling the Water-Bottles; the glare of
+noonday in the Gleaners; the sunset glow in the Angelus and the
+Shepherdess; the sombre twilight of the Sower; and the glimmering
+lamplight of the Woman Sewing, each found perfect interpretation.
+Though showing himself capable of representing powerfully the more
+violent aspects of nature, he preferred as a rule the normal and
+quiet.</p>
+
+<p>In figure painting Millet sought neither grace nor beauty, but
+expression. That he regarded neither of these first two qualities
+as intrinsically unworthy, we may infer from the grace of the
+Sower, and the na&iuml;ve beauty of the Shepherdess and the Woman
+Sewing. But that expression was of paramount interest to him we see
+clearly in the Angelus and the Man with the Hoe. The leading
+characteristic of his art is strength, and he distrusted the
+ordinary elements of prettiness as taking something from the total
+effect he wished to produce. "Let no one think that they can force
+me to prettify my types," he said. "I would rather do nothing than
+express myself feebly."</p>
+
+<p>It was always his first aim to make his people look as if they
+belonged to their station. The "mute inglorious Milton" and Maud
+Muller with her "nameless longings" had no place on his canvases.
+His was the genuine peasant of field and farm, no imaginary denizen
+of the poets' Arcady. "The beautiful is the fitting," was his final
+summary of &aelig;sthetic theory, and the theory was put into
+practice on every canvas.</p>
+
+<p>In point of composition Millet's pictures have great excellence.
+"I try not to have things look as if chance brought them together,"
+he said, "but as if they had a necessary bond between them." So
+nothing is accidental, but every object, however small, is an
+indispensable part of the whole scheme.</p>
+
+<p>An important characteristic of his work is its power to suggest
+the third dimension of space. The figures have a solid, tangible
+appearance, as if actually alive. The Gleaners, the Woman Churning,
+and the Man with the Hoe are thoroughly convincing in their
+reality.</p>
+
+<p>The picture of the Gleaners especially has that so-called
+"quality of circumambient light" which circulates about the
+objects, so to speak, and gives them position in space. Millet's
+landscapes also have a depth of spaciousness which reaches into
+infinite distance. The principles of composition are applied in
+perspective as well as laterally. We can look into the picture,
+through it, and beyond it, as if we were standing in the presence
+of nature.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Bernhard Berenson goes so far as to say that this art of
+"space composition," as he terms it, can "directly communicate
+religious emotion," and explains on this ground the devotional
+influence of Perugino's works, which show so remarkable a feeling
+for space.<a name='FNanchor_1_1'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_1_1'><sup>[1]</sup></a> If he is right, it is on this
+principle, rather than because of its subject, that the Angelus is,
+as it has sometimes been called, "one of the greatest religious
+paintings of the age."</p>
+
+<p>While Millet's art is, in its entirety, quite unique, there are
+certain interesting points of resemblance between his work and that
+of some older masters. He is akin to Rembrandt both in his
+indifference to beauty and in his intense love of human nature.
+Millet's indifference to beauty is the more remarkable because in
+this he stood alone in his day and generation, while in the
+northern art of the seventeenth century, of which Rembrandt is an
+exponent, beauty was never supreme.</p>
+
+<p>As a lover of human nature, Millet's sympathies, though no less
+intense than Rembrandt's, were less catholic. His range of
+observation was limited to peasant life, while the Dutch master
+painted all classes and conditions of men. Yet both alike were
+profound students of character and regarded expression as the chief
+element of beauty. Rembrandt, however, sought expression
+principally in the countenance, and Millet had a fuller
+understanding of the expressiveness of the entire body. The work of
+each thus complements that of the other.</p>
+
+<p>Millet's passion for figure expression was first worked out in
+painting the nude. When he abandoned such subjects for the homelier
+themes of labor, he gave no less attention to the study of form and
+attitude. The simple clothing of the peasant is cut so loosely as
+to give entire freedom of motion to the body, and it is worn so
+long that it shapes itself perfectly to the figure. The body thus
+clad is scarcely inferior to the nude in assuming the fine lines of
+an expressive pose.</p>
+
+<p>Millet's instinct for pose was that of a sculptor. Many of the
+figures for his pictures were first carefully modelled in wax or
+clay. Transferred to canvas they are drawn in the strong simple
+outlines of a statue. It is no extravagant flight of fancy which
+has likened him to Michelangelo. In the strength and seriousness of
+his conceptions, the bold sweep of his lines, and, above all, in
+the impression of motion which he conveys, he has much in common
+with the great Italian master. Like Michelangelo, Millet gives
+first preference to the dramatic moment when action is imminent.
+The Sower is in the act of casting the seed into the ground, as
+David is in the act of stretching his sling. As we look, we seem to
+see the hand complete its motion. So also the Gleaners, the Women
+Filling the Water-Bottles, and the Potato Planters are all
+portrayed in attitudes of performance.</p>
+
+<p>When Millet represents repose it is as an interval of suspended
+action, not as the end of completed work. The Shepherdess pauses
+but a moment in her walk and will immediately move on again. The
+man and woman of the Angelus rest only for the prayer and then
+resume their work. The Man with the Hoe snatches but a brief
+respite from his labors. The impression of power suggested by his
+figure, even in immobility, recalls Michelangelo's Jeremiah.</p>
+
+<p>To the qualities which are reminiscent of Michelangelo Millet
+adds another in which he is allied to the Greeks. This is his
+tendency towards generalization. It is the typical rather than the
+individual which he strives to present. "My dream," he once wrote,
+"is to characterize the type." So his figures, like those of Greek
+sculpture, reproduce no particular model, but are the general type
+deduced from the study of many individuals.</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<a name='Footnote_1_1'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_1'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>In <i>Central Italian Painters of the Renaissance</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='reference'></a>
+<h3>II. ON BOOKS OF REFERENCE</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>Since the death of Millet, in 1875, much that is interesting and
+valuable has been written of his life and work. The first biography
+of the painter was that by his friend Sensier, in a large
+illustrated volume whose contents have been made familiar to
+English readers by an abridged translation published in this
+country simultaneously with the issue of the French edition.
+Containing all the essential facts of Millet's outward life,
+besides a great number of the artist's letters, together with his
+autobiographical reminiscences of childhood, Sensier's work is the
+principal source of information, from which all later writers draw.
+Yet it is not an altogether fair and satisfactory presentation of
+Millet's life. Undue emphasis is laid upon his struggles with
+poverty, and the book leaves much to be desired.</p>
+
+<p>Julia Cartwright's recent work, "Jean Fran&ccedil;ois Millet:
+His Life and Letters," is founded on Sensier's life, yet rounds out
+the study of the master's character and work with the fuller
+knowledge with which family and friends have described his
+career.</p>
+
+<p>Another recent book called "J.F. Millet and Rustic Art" is by
+Henry Naegely (published in England), and is critical rather than
+biographical in purport. It is a sympathetic appreciation of
+Millet's art and character, and grows out of a careful study of the
+painter's works and an intimate connection with the Millet
+family.</p>
+
+<p>Besides these books devoted exclusively to the subject, the life
+work of Millet is admirably sketched in brief form in the following
+more general works:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>Richard Muther's "History of Modern Painting," Mrs. Stranahan's
+"History of French Painting," Rose G. Kingsley's "History of French
+Art," and D.C. Thomson's "Barbizon School."</p>
+
+<p>Of great importance to the student of Millet are the various
+articles contributed to the magazines by those who knew and
+understood the painter. The following are of special note: By
+Edward W. Wheelwright, in "The Atlantic Monthly," September, 1876;
+by Wyatt Eaton, in the "Century," May, 1889; by T.H. Bartlett, in
+"Scribner's," May and June, 1890; by Pierre Millet, in "Century,"
+January, 1893, and April, 1894; and by Will Low, in "McClure's,"
+May, 1896. Julia Cartwright, in the preface to the above mentioned
+biography, mentions other magazine articles not so generally
+accessible.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='directory'></a>
+<h3>III. HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF THE PICTURES OF THIS
+COLLECTION</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p><i>Portrait frontispiece</i>, a life-size crayon made by Millet
+in 1847 and given to his friend Charlier. It afterwards became the
+property of Sensier.</p>
+
+<p>1. <i>Going to Work</i>, one of several versions of the subject
+in different mediums, oil, pastel, drawing, and etching. This
+picture was painted in 1851, and was at one time (1891) in a
+private collection in Glasgow.<a name='FNanchor_1_2'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_1_2'><sup>[1]</sup></a> It is to be distinguished from
+the picture of 1850, where the woman carries a pitcher instead of a
+rope.<a name='FNanchor_2_3'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_2_3'><sup>[2]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>2. <i>The Knitting Lesson</i>, a drawing corresponding in
+general composition, with some changes of detail, to the small
+painting (17 by 14-1/2 in.) of the subject in the collection of
+Mrs. Martin Brimmer, in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.</p>
+
+<p>3. <i>The Potato Planters</i>, painted in 1862, and exhibited at
+the great exhibition at Paris of that year, also again in 1867 at
+the International Exhibition. It changed hands for large sums
+during the painter's lifetime, and is now in the Quincy A. Shaw
+collection, Boston, Mass.</p>
+
+<p>4. <i>The Woman Sewing by Lamplight</i>, painted in 1872, and
+sold in 1873 for 38,500 francs, the highest price at that time ever
+paid for one of Millet's works.</p>
+
+<p>5. <i>The Shepherdess</i>, painted in 1862, and exhibited at the
+Salon of 1864, also again at the Exposition Universelle of 1867. It
+is now in the collection of M. Chauchard.</p>
+
+<p>6. <i>The Woman Feeding Hens</i>, a charcoal sketch,
+corresponding in general composition to the description of a
+painting bearing the same name, which was painted in 1854 for M.
+Letr&ocirc;ne for 2000 francs.</p>
+
+<p>7. <i>The Angelus</i>, an oil painting measuring 25 by 21 in.
+The first drawing for the picture was sold February, 1858. The
+painting was completed for exhibition in the Salon of 1859. It was
+declined by the patron for whom it was intended, and finally sold
+to a Belgian artist in 1860, and soon afterwards to the Belgian
+minister. The original price was 2000 francs. The picture passed
+from one owner to another, and in 1873 was bought by J.W. Wilson
+for 50,000 francs, later bringing at the Wilson sale of 1881 the
+sum of &pound;6400. In an auction sale of the Secr&eacute;tan
+collection, July, 1889, there was an immense excitement over the
+contest between the French government, represented by M. Proust,
+Director of Fine Arts, and various American dealers, who were
+determined to win the prize. It was finally knocked down to M.
+Proust for 553,000 francs, but the French government refused to
+ratify the purchase, and the picture was brought to the United
+States. Here the customs duty exacted was so enormous (&pound;7000)
+that the picture remained only six months (the duty being waived
+during that period), and after being exhibited throughout the
+country finally returned to France, where it was purchased for
+&pound;32,000 by M. Chauchard, who has the finest collection of
+Millets in existence.</p>
+
+<p>8. <i>Filling the Water-Bottles</i>, a charcoal drawing, which
+attracted much attention when exhibited in the Millet collection of
+the Paris Exposition, 1889.</p>
+
+<p>9. <i>Feeding Her Birds</i>, painted in 1860, and exhibited in
+Salon of 1861. Presented by a purchaser to the Museum of Lille in
+1871.</p>
+
+<p>10. <i>The Church at Gr&eacute;ville</i>, sketched during
+Millet's visit at Gr&eacute;ville in the summer of 1871; referred
+to by him, in a letter of 1872, as still in process of painting;
+found in his studio at the time of his death, in 1875. The picture
+was bought by the French government, and is now in the Louvre,
+Paris.</p>
+
+<p>11. <i>The Sower</i>, the second painting of the subject,
+painted in 1850, and exhibited in the Salon of 1850-51. It is now
+in the Vanderbilt collection, New York.</p>
+
+<p>A pencil sketch of the Sower is in the collection of Millet's
+drawings, at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.<a name=
+'FNanchor_3_4'></a><a href='#Footnote_3_4'><sup>[3]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>12. <i>The Gleaners</i>, a painting first exhibited at the Salon
+of 1867. It was sold to M. Binder of l'Isle Adam for 2000 francs.
+In 1889 it was purchased by Madame Pommeroy for 300,000 francs, and
+presented to the Louvre, Paris. A pencil drawing of the three
+figures is in the collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.</p>
+
+<p>13. <i>The Milkmaid</i>, painted in 1871 from a sketch made in
+Gr&eacute;ville. Seen in Millet's studio in 1873 by Will Low, the
+American artist.</p>
+
+<p>14. <i>The Woman Churning</i>, one of several versions of the
+subject, the first of which appeared in 1870.</p>
+
+<p>15. <i>The Man with the Hoe</i>, painted in 1862 and exhibited
+at the Salon of 1863. Sold to a Belgian collector, and long in
+Brussels. It is now owned by Mr. W.S. Crocker of San Francisco,
+Cal.</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+ <a name='Footnote_1_2'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_2'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>See D.C. Thomson's <i>Barbizon School</i>, pp. 226, 227.</p>
+</div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_2_3'></a><a href='#FNanchor_2_3'>[2]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>See Julia Cartwright, <i>Life and Letters of Jean
+Fran&ccedil;ois Millet</i>, pp. 114,115.</p>
+</div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_3_4'></a><a href='#FNanchor_3_4'>[3]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>This is one of an interesting collection of drawings in this
+museum, which also contains several original paintings by Millet, a
+Shepherdess, seated, a portrait of the painter, and others. Other
+fine Millets are in the private collections of Boston, where the
+painter received early appreciation, owing to the enthusiasm of
+William Morris Hunt, the painter, and such connoisseurs as Mr.
+Quincy Shaw and Mr. Brimmer.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='outlinetable'></a>
+<h3>IV. OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN MILLET'S LIFE</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td>1814.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Millet born, October 4, in hamlet of Gruchy, commune of
+Gr&eacute;ville, in the old province of Normandy, France.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1832.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Two months' study with Mouchel in Cherbourg.</li>
+
+<li>Death of Millet's father.</li>
+
+<li>Study with Langlois in Cherbourg.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1837.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Removal to Paris, supported by annuity of 400 francs from the
+municipality of Cherbourg.<a name='FNanchor_1_5'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_1_5'><sup>[1]</sup></a></li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1837-1839 (?).</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Studies with Delaroche.<a name='FNanchor_2_6'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_2_6'><sup>[2]</sup></a></li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1840.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>A portrait of M.L.F. exhibited at Salon of the Louvre.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1841.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Portrait of Mademoiselle Antoinette Feuardent.</li>
+
+<li>Marriage with Mademoiselle Pauline Virginie Ono in
+Cherbourg.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1842.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Returned to Paris.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1844.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Millet exhibited at Salon: the Milkmaid, the Riding
+Lesson.</li>
+
+<li>Death of Millet's wife, April 21, and Millet's return home for
+18 months.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1845.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Marriage with Catherine Lemaire late in summer, in
+Gr&eacute;ville.</li>
+
+<li>Visit in Havre in November.</li>
+
+<li>Arrival in Paris in December, and residence in the rue
+Rochehouart.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1847.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Oedipus taken from the Tree exhibited at the Salon.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1848.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Millet exhibited at the Salon the Winnower, bought by M.</li>
+
+<li>Ledru-Rollin for 500 francs, and the Captivity of the Jews in
+Babylon.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1849.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Removal to Barbizon.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1850.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>The Sower painted and exhibited at the Salon with the Sheaf
+Binders.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1851.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Death of Millet's grandmother, Louise Jumelin, at Gruchy.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1853.</td>
+<td colspan="2">
+<ul>
+<li>Death of Millet's mother at Gruchy.</li>
+
+<li>Millet exhibited at the Salon:</li>
+</ul>
+
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Ruth and Boaz,</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+<td>bought by an American.</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>The Sheep Shearer,</li>
+
+<li>The Shepherd,</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+<td>bought by William Morris Hunt</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1854.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Visit four months to the surroundings of the old home in
+Normandy.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1855.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>The Grafter, exhibited at the Salon.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1856.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Le Pare aux Moutons painted.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1857.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>The Gleaners exhibited at the Salon.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1859.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>The Angelus exhibited at the Salon.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1860-1861.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>The Shepherd in the Fold by Moonlight, and the Femme aux
+Seaux.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1861.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>The Potato Planters painted.</li>
+
+<li>Millet exhibited at the Salon of the Champs
+Elys&egrave;es:</li>
+</ul>
+
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Feeding Her Birds.</li>
+
+<li>Waiting.</li>
+
+<li>The Sheep Shearer.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1862.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>List of pictures painted:&mdash;</li>
+</ul>
+
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Winter.</li>
+
+<li>The Crows.</li>
+
+<li>Sheep Feeding.</li>
+
+<li>The Wool Carder.</li>
+
+<li>The Stag.</li>
+
+<li>The Birth of the Calf.</li>
+
+<li>The Shepherdess.</li>
+
+<li>The Man with the Hoe.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1863.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Millet sent to Salon: Man with the Hoe, The Wool Carder (see
+list of works in 1862), and a Shepherd bringing Home his
+Sheep.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1864.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Millet exhibited at the Salon: The Shepherdess, and The Birth
+of the Calf (see list of works in 1862).</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1865.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>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.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1866.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Short visit to Vichy, Auvergne, Clermont, Issoire.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1867.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Millet exhibited at the Exposition Universelle (International
+Exhibition):&mdash;</li>
+</ul>
+
+<table>
+<tr>
+<td>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Death and the Woodcutter (refused by the Salon of 1859).</li>
+
+<li>The Gleaners.</li>
+
+<li>The Shepherdess.</li>
+
+<li>The Sheep Shearer.</li>
+
+<li>The Shepherd.</li>
+
+<li>The Sheep Fold.</li>
+
+<li>The Potato Planters.</li>
+
+<li>The Potato Harvest.</li>
+
+<li>The Angelus.</li>
+
+<li>Visit to Vichy in June.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1867-69.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>The Pig Killers.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1868.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Millet made Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, August 13.</li>
+
+<li>Journey with Sensier in Alsace and Switzerland, September.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1870.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Millet elected, March 24, juror for coming exposition.</li>
+
+<li>The Woman Churning exhibited at the Salon.</li>
+
+<li>Departure for Gr&eacute;ville on account of danger of remaining
+in Barbizon during the war.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1871.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Return to Barbizon November 7.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1874.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Order from Administration of Beaux Arts for mural decorations
+in the Panth&eacute;on (Ste. Genevi&egrave;ve), Paris.</li>
+
+<li>The Priory painted.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td>1875.</td>
+<td>
+<ul>
+<li>Death of Millet, January 20, at Barbizon.</li>
+</ul>
+</td>
+</tr>
+</table>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<a name='Footnote_1_5'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_5'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>To this was added later 600 francs from the General Council of
+La Manche, but both annuities were soon discontinued.</p>
+</div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_2_6'></a><a href='#FNanchor_2_6'>[2]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>The exact date of Millet's severing connection with Delaroche is
+not mentioned by his biographers, though the circumstances are
+detailed.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='associates'></a>
+<h3>V. SOME OF MILLET'S ASSOCIATES</h3>
+
+<br>
+ <b>Companions in the studio of Delaroche:&mdash;</b><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Charles Fran&ccedil;ois
+H&eacute;bert (1817- ).</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Jalabert (1819- ).</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Thomas Couture
+(1815-1879).</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Edouard Fr&egrave;re
+(1819-1886).</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Adolphe Yvon (1817- ).</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Antigna (1818-1878).</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Prosper Louis Roux (1817-
+).</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Marolle.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Cavalier, sculptor.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Gendron (1817-1881).</span><br>
+<br>
+<b>Friends and neighbors in Paris:&mdash;</b><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Couture (also fellow student in
+studio of Delaroche).</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Tourneaux (1809-1867), painter and
+poet.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Diaz (1808-1876), landscape
+painter.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Joseph Guichard (1836-1877), marine
+painter.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Charles Jacque (1813- ),
+etcher.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Campr&eacute;don.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>S&eacute;chan, clever scene
+painter.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Di&eacute;terle, clever scene
+painter.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Eug&egrave;ne Lacoste.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Azev&eacute;do, musical
+critic.</span><br>
+<br>
+<b>Friends at Barbizon:&mdash;</b><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Charles Jacque (who removed thither
+with him).</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Diaz (also a friend of the Paris
+days).</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Corot (1796-1875).</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Theodore Rousseau
+(1812-1867).</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Laure (1806-1861).</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>William Morris Hunt, American
+painter.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Mr. Hearn, American
+painter.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Mr. Babcock, American
+painter.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Edward Wheelwright, American
+painter.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Wyatt Eaton, American
+painter.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Will Low, American
+painter.</span><br>
+
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='goingtowork'></a>
+<h2>I</h2>
+
+<h3>GOING TO WORK</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>To this Norman peasant stock belonged Jean Fran&ccedil;ois
+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 Gr&eacute;ville, 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 illustrating 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 fashioned.</p>
+
+<p>In France the farm labors are shared by men and women alike. The
+peasant woman is sturdily 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.</p>
+
+<img src="images/goingtowork.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co. John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc. GOING TO WORK"
+ align="left">
+
+<p>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.</p>
+
+<p>They are dressed for their work in clothing which is plain and
+coarse, but which is perfectly suited for the purpose. The French
+peasants' working clothes are usually of strong homespun cloth,
+fashioned 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.</p>
+
+<p>The men wear soft felt hats, the brim of which can be pulled
+forward to shade the eyes. The women cover their heads neatly with
+caps or kerchiefs, and are nearly always seen with aprons. Men and
+women both wear the heavy wooden shoes called <i>sabots</i>, in
+which the feet suffer no pressure as from leather shoes, and are
+protected against the moisture of the ground.</p>
+
+<p>The peasants of our picture carry all they need for the day's
+work. A three-pronged fork rests across the man's shoulder, and a
+wallet of lunch hangs from his left arm. The woman has a basket, a
+linen sack, and a bit of rope. Evidently something is to be brought
+home. Just now she has swung the empty basket up over her shoulders
+and it covers her head like a huge sunbonnet.</p>
+
+<p>The two young people are full of the healthy vigor which makes
+work a pleasure. They go cheerfully to their day's task as if they
+really enjoyed it. We cannot help suspecting that they are lovers.
+The man carries himself erect with a conscious air of manliness,
+and steps briskly, with his hand thrust into his pocket. The girl
+hides her shyness in the shadow of the basket as she turns her face
+towards his. The two swing along buoyantly, keeping step as if
+accustomed to walking together.</p>
+
+<p>At the close of the day's work the basket and sack will be
+filled, and the laborers will return to their home by the same way.
+The burden may be heavy, but they will bear it as the reward of
+their toil.</p>
+
+<p>The picture of Going to Work was painted at about the same
+time<a name='FNanchor_1_7'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_1_7'><sup>[1]</sup></a> as the The Sower, which forms
+one of the later illustrations of our collection. A comparison of
+the pictures will show interesting points of resemblance between
+the two men striding down hill. Though Going to Work is not as a
+work of art of equal rank with The Sower, we get in both pictures a
+delightful sense of motion which makes the figures seem actually
+alive.</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+ <a name='Footnote_1_7'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_7'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>That is, within a year. See dates in the <i>Historical
+Directory</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='theknittinglesson'></a>
+<h2>II</h2>
+
+<h3>THE KNITTING LESSON</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>In the picture we have been examining we have seen something of
+the outdoor life of the French peasants, and now we are shown the
+interior of one of their houses, where a Knitting Lesson is being
+given. The girls of the French peasantry are taught only the
+plainest kinds of needlework. They have to begin to make themselves
+useful very early in life, and knitting is a matter of special
+importance. In these large families many pairs of stockings are
+needed, and all must be homemade. This is work which the little
+girls can do while the mother is busy with heavier labors. The
+knitting work becomes a girl's constant companion, and there are
+few moments when her hands are idle.</p>
+
+<img src="images/theknittinglesson.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc. THE KNITTING LESSON"
+ align="left">
+
+<p>The little girl in our picture is still a beginner in the art,
+and the lesson is a very exciting occasion to her. Already she
+feels like a woman.</p>
+
+<p>The mother and daughter have their chairs by the window to get a
+good light on the work. It is a large and beautiful casement
+window, of the kind almost universal in France, opening lengthwise
+in the middle in two parts which swing on hinges like doors. The
+window seat serves as a table, to hold the basket and scissors. The
+doll is thrust into the corner; our little girl has "put away
+childish things"&mdash;at least for the moment,&mdash;and takes her
+task very seriously.</p>
+
+<p>The two chairs are drawn close together, the one a small
+counterpart of the other. The child braces her feet firmly on one
+of the rounds and bends her whole mind to her work. Both mother and
+daughter wear close white caps, though the little girl's is of a
+more childish pattern and does not cover her pretty hair in
+front.</p>
+
+<p>The mother has been sewing on some large garment which lies
+across her lap. She lets the little girl work by herself for a
+time, and then stops to set her right. Already a considerable
+length of stocking has been made, but this is a place where close
+attention is needed. Perhaps it is time to begin shaping the heel.
+The mother's work is left altogether for a moment. Putting her arm
+about the child's shoulder, she takes the two little hands in hers,
+and guides the fingers holding the needles.</p>
+
+<p>We get some idea of the quaint style of the building from this
+glimpse of the living-room. Probably it is a low stone cottage with
+thatched or tiled roof. The deep window seat shows how thick the
+walls are. Overhead we see the oak rafters.</p>
+
+<p>The room looks spotlessly clean, as a good housewife's should.
+Though we see only a corner, that corner holds the most precious
+household possession, the linen chest. It stands against the wall,
+and is of generous size. French country people take great pride in
+storing up a quantity of linen; tablecloths, sheets, shirts,
+pillowcases, often of their own weaving, are piled in the deep
+clothes-presses. In well-to-do families there are enough for six
+months' use, the family washing taking place only twice a year, in
+spring and fall, like house-cleaning in America. We judge that our
+housekeeper is well provided, by the pile of neatly folded sheets
+on the press. The little clock, high on the wall, and the vase of
+flowers on the chest are the only touches of ornament in the room.
+On the wall are some small objects which look like shuttles for
+weaving.</p>
+
+<p>As we look at the picture we feel sure that Millet was a lover
+of children, and it is pleasant to know that he had many of his
+own. The artist father was his children's favorite playmate, and at
+the close of his day's work in his studio, they ran to meet him
+with shouts of joy. He used to like to walk about the garden with
+them showing them the flowers. In winter time they sat together by
+the fire, and the father sang songs and drew pictures for the
+little ones. Sometimes taking a log from the wood basket he would
+carve a doll out of it, and paint the cheeks with vermilion. This
+is the sort of doll we see on the window seat in our picture.</p>
+
+<p>Ruskin tells us that a true artist feels like a caged bird in
+painting any enclosed space, unless it contains some opening like a
+door or window. No amount of beauty will content us, he says, if we
+are shut in to that alone. Our picture is a good proof of this
+principle. We can easily fancy how different the effect would be
+without the window: the room would appear almost like a prisoner's
+cell. As it is, the great window suggests the out-of-door world
+into which it opens, and gives us a sense of larger space.</p>
+
+<p>Our illustration is taken from a drawing. Millet was a
+painstaking artist who made many drawings and studies for his
+paintings. This is probably such a study, as there is also a
+painting by him of the same subject very similar to this.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='thepotatoplanters'></a>
+<h2>III</h2>
+
+<h3>THE POTATO PLANTERS</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>In the picture called The Potato Planters we are reminded at
+once of the peasants we have already seen in Going to Work. We see
+here married people a few years older than the young people of the
+other picture working together in the fields.</p>
+
+<p>It may be that this is their own little plot of ground, for they
+work with a certain air of proprietorship. They look prosperous,
+too, and are somewhat better dressed than common laborers. It is
+the highest ambition of the French peasant to own a bit of land. He
+will make any sacrifice to get it, and possessing it, is well
+content. He labors with constant industry to make it yield
+well.</p>
+
+<p>The field here is at quite a distance from the village where the
+workers live. We can see the little group of houses on the horizon.
+In France the agricultural classes do not build their
+dwelling-houses on their farms, but live instead in village
+communities, with the farms in the outlying districts. The custom
+has many advantages. The families may help one another in various
+ways both by joining forces and exchanging services. They may also
+share in common the use of church, school, and post office. This
+French farming system has been adopted in Canada, while in our own
+country we follow the English custom of building isolated
+farmhouses.</p>
+
+<p>In working season the French farmer must go daily to his labor
+at a distance. The people in our picture are fortunate enough to
+own a donkey which is their burden-bearer between house and field.
+The strong little creature can carry a heavy load properly disposed
+in pannier baskets. The panniers are made very deep and wide, but
+rather flat, so as to fit the sides of the donkey. With one of
+these hanging on each side of the saddle, the weight of the burden
+is so well distributed that it is easily borne.</p>
+
+<p>The donkey of our picture has been relieved of his panniers, and
+now rests in the shade of some apple-trees. One of the baskets is
+in the mean time put to a novel use. Made soft and warm with a
+heavy cloak, it forms a nice cradle for the baby. The babies in
+French peasant families are often left at home with the
+grandmother, while the mother goes out to field work. The painter
+Millet himself was in childhood the special charge of his
+grandmother, while his mother labored on the farm. The people of
+our picture have another and, as it seems, a much pleasanter plan,
+in going to the field as a family party.</p>
+
+<img src="images/thepotatoplanters.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc. THE POTATO PLANTERS"
+ align="right">
+
+<p>The day is well advanced and the work goes steadily on. It is
+potato planting, and the potato crop is of great importance to
+country people, second perhaps to the wheat, as it supplies food to
+both man and beast. The commoner varieties, as the large white, are
+raised for cattle, and the finer and sweeter kinds, the red and the
+yellow, are kept for the table.</p>
+
+<p>The laborer and his wife move along the field, facing each other
+on opposite sides of the row they are planting. The man turns the
+sod with his hoe, a short-handled tool which long practice has
+taught him to use skilfully. The wife carries the potato seed in
+her apron, and as her husband lifts each spadeful of earth, she
+throws the seed into the hole thus made. He holds the hoe suspended
+a moment while the seed drops in, and then replaces the earth over
+it. The two work in perfect unison, each following the other's
+motion with mechanical regularity, as they move down the field
+together.</p>
+
+<p>The two who work so well together in the field are sure to work
+well together in the home. The man has the serious, capable look of
+a provident husband. The woman looks like a good housewife. That
+shapely hand throwing the seed so deftly into the ground is well
+adapted to domestic tasks.</p>
+
+<p>We may easily identify our picture as a familiar scene in
+Millet's Barbizon surroundings. We are told that "upon all sides of
+Barbizon, save one, the plain stretches almost literally as far as
+the eye can reach," and presents "a generally level and open
+surface." "There are no isolated farmhouses, and no stone walls,
+fences, or hedges, except immediately around the villages; and were
+it not all under cultivation, the plain might be taken for a vast
+common."<a name='FNanchor_1_8'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_1_8'><sup>[1]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>It is evident, then, that we here see the plain of Barbizon and
+true Barbizon peasants of Millet's day. The villagers of the
+painter's acquaintance were on the whole a prosperous class, nearly
+all owning their houses and a few acres of ground. The big
+apple-tree under which the donkey rests is just such an one as grew
+in Millet's own little garden.</p>
+
+<p>Fruit trees were his peculiar delight. He knew all their ways,
+and "all their special twists and turnings;" how the leaves of the
+apple-tree are bunched together on their twigs, and how the roots
+spread under ground. "Any artist," he used to say, "can go to the
+East and paint a palm-tree, but very few can paint an
+apple-tree."</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+ <a name='Footnote_1_8'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_8'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>From Edward Wheelwright's <i>Recollections of Jean
+Fran&ccedil;ois Millet</i>, in <i>Atlantic Monthly</i>, September,
+1876.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='thewomansewingbylamplight'></a>
+<h2>IV</h2>
+
+<h3>THE WOMAN SEWING BY LAMPLIGHT</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>Though the peasant women of France have so large a share in the
+laborious out-of-door work on the farms, they are not unfitted for
+domestic duties. In the long winter evenings they devote themselves
+to more distinctly woman's tasks, knitting and sewing, sometimes
+even spinning and weaving. Their housekeeping is very simple, for
+they live frugally, but they know how to make the home comfortable.
+Many modern inventions are still unknown to them, and we should
+think their customs very primitive, but on this account they are
+perhaps even more picturesque.</p>
+
+<p>There is contentment in every line of the face of this Woman
+Sewing by Lamplight. It is the face of a happy young wife and
+mother. She sits close by her baby's bedside that she may listen to
+his gentle breathing as he sleeps, and she smiles softly to herself
+while she sews. It is a sweet face which bends over the work, and
+it is framed in the daintiest of white caps edged with a wide
+ruffle which is turned back over the hair above the forehead, that
+it may not shade her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>The garment that lies on her lap is of some coarse heavy
+material. No dainty bit of fancy work is this, but a plain piece of
+mending. It may be the long cloak which the shepherd wraps about
+him in cold and stormy weather. Made from the wool grown on his own
+sheep, spun by his wife's own hand, it is unrivalled among
+manufactured cloths for warmth and comfort. The needle is threaded
+with a coarse thread of wool, which the sewer draws deftly through
+the cloth.</p>
+
+<img src="images/womansewing.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co. THE WOMAN SEWING BY LAMPLIGHT John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc."
+ align="right">
+
+<p>On a pole which runs from floor to ceiling is a hook, from which
+a lamp is suspended by a chain. This lamp appears to be a
+boat-shaped vessel with the wick coming out at one end. The light
+gilds the mother's gentle profile with shining radiance; it
+illumines the fingers of her right hand, and gleams on the coarse
+garment in her lap, transforming it into a cloth of gold.</p>
+
+<p>The baby meanwhile lies on the other side of the lamp in the
+shadow. His little mouth is open, and he is fast asleep. We can
+almost fancy that the mother croons a lullaby as she sews. There is
+a pathetic little French song called La Petite
+H&eacute;l&egrave;ne, which Millet's mother used to sing to him,
+and which he in turn taught his own children. Perhaps we could not
+understand the words if we could hear it. But when mothers sing to
+their babies, whatever the tongue in which they speak, they use a
+common language of motherhood. Some such simple little lullaby as
+this, which mothers of another land sing to their babes, would
+doubtless interpret this mother's thoughts:&mdash;</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>"Sleep, baby, sleep!</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Thy father watches the
+sheep;</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Thy mother is shaking the dreamland
+tree,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And down comes a little dream on
+thee.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Sleep, baby, sleep!</span><br>
+<br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>"Sleep, baby, sleep!</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>The large stars are the
+sheep;</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>The little ones are the lambs, I
+guess:</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>The gentle moon is the
+shepherdess,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Sleep, baby, sleep!</span><br>
+<br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>"Sleep, baby, sleep!</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Our Saviour loves his
+sheep;</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>He is the Lamb of God on
+high</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Who for our sakes came down to
+die.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Sleep, baby, sleep!"</span><br>
+<br>
+
+
+<p>When we remember that the ancient Romans had lamps constructed
+somewhat like that in the picture, it seems strange that so rude a
+contrivance should be in use in the nineteenth century. But this is
+only the practical and prosaic side of the question. For artistic
+purposes the lamp is just what is wanted in the composition.</p>
+
+<p>You can see how a lamp with a glass chimney and shade would
+spoil the whole effect. We should lose that strange beautiful halo
+surrounding the wick, and the light would fall only on the work,
+instead of glorifying the face of the mother. These wonderful
+impressions of light add much to the artistic beauty of the
+picture, and explain why artists have so greatly admired it.</p>
+
+<p>The picture naturally recalls that other Mother and Babe, Mary
+of Nazareth and the holy Child Jesus, who for so many centuries
+have inspired the imagination of artists. Often a painter has drawn
+his first conception for this sacred subject from some peasant
+mother and child such as these.</p>
+
+<p>In order to give religious significance to their pictures,
+artists have tried in many ways to suggest the supernatural. They
+have introduced halos about the heads of Mary and Jesus, and have
+made the light seem to shine mysteriously from the child's body.
+Now our painter Millet, representing only an ordinary mother and
+babe, has not used any such methods. Nevertheless, without going
+beyond strict reality, he has produced a mystical effect of light
+which makes this picture worthy of a place among the Madonnas. The
+glow of the lamp transforms the familiar scene into a shrine of
+mother's love.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='theshepherdess'></a>
+<h2>V</h2>
+
+<h3>THE SHEPHERDESS</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>Many years ago the early English poet, Sir Philip Sidney, wrote
+a book about an imaginary country called Arcadia, noted for the
+sweetness of the air and the gentle manners of the people. As he
+described the beauties of the scenery there, he told of "meadows
+enamelled with all sorts of eye-pleasing flowers; each pasture
+stored with sheep feeding with sober security; here a shepherd's
+boy piping as though he should never be old; there a young
+shepherdess knitting and withal singing, and it seemed that her
+voice comforted her hands to work, and her hands kept time to her
+voice-music."</p>
+
+<p>We could easily fancy that our picture of the Shepherdess was
+meant to illustrate a scene in Arcadia. Here is the meadow
+"enamelled with eye-pleasing flowers," the sheep "feeding with
+sober security," and the young shepherdess herself knitting. Though
+she is not singing with her lips, her heart sings softly as she
+knits, and her hands keep time to the dream-music.</p>
+
+<p>Early in the morning she led her flock out to the fallow
+pastures which make good grazing ground. All day long the sheep
+have nibbled the green herbage at their own sweet will, always
+under the watchful eye of their gentle guardian. Her hands have
+been busy all the time. Like patient Griselda in Chaucer's poem,
+who did her spinning while she watched her sheep, "she would not
+have been idle till she slept." Ever since she learned at her
+mother's knee those early lessons in knitting, she has kept the
+needles flying. She can knit perfectly well now while she follows
+her flock about. The work almost knits itself while her eyes and
+thoughts are engaged in other occupations.</p>
+
+<p>The little shepherdess has an assistant too, who shares the
+responsibilities of her task. He is a small black dog, "patient and
+full of importance and grand in the pride of his instinct."<a name=
+'FNanchor_1_9'></a><a href='#Footnote_1_9'><sup>[1]</sup></a> When
+a sheep is tempted by an enticing bit of green in the distance to
+stray from its companions, the dog quickly bounds after the runaway
+and drives it back to the flock. Only the voice of the shepherdess
+is needed to send him hither, thither, and yon on such errands.</p>
+
+<p>Now nightfall comes, and it is time to lead the flock home to
+the sheepfold. The sheep are gathered into a compact mass, the ram
+in their midst. The shepherdess leads the way, and the dog remains
+at the rear, "walking from side to side with a lordly air," to
+allow no wanderer to escape.</p>
+
+<img src="images/shepherdess.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co. John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc. THE SHEPHERDESS"
+ align="left">
+
+<p>Their way lies across the plain whose level stretch is unbroken
+by fences or buildings. In the distance men may be seen loading a
+wagon with hay. The sheep still keep on nibbling as they go, and
+their progress is slow. The shepherdess takes time to stop and rest
+now and then, propping her staff in front of her while she picks up
+a stitch dropped in her knitting. There is a sense of perfect
+stillness in the air, that calm silence of the fields, which Millet
+once said was the gayest thing he knew in nature.</p>
+
+<p>The chill of nightfall is beginning to be felt, and the
+shepherdess wears a hood and cape. Her face shows her to be a
+dreamer. These long days in the open air give her many visions to
+dream of. Her companionship with dumb creatures makes her more
+thoughtful, perhaps, than many girls of her age.</p>
+
+<p>As a good shepherdess she knows her sheep well enough to call
+them all by name. From their soft wool was woven her warm cape and
+hood, and there is a genuine friendship between flock and mistress.
+When she goes before them, they follow her, for they know her
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>Among the traditions dear to the hearts of the French people is
+one of a saintly young shepherdess of Nanterre, known as Ste.
+Genevi&egrave;ve. Like the shepherdess of our picture, she was a
+dreamer, and her strange visions and wonderful sanctity set her
+apart from childhood for a great destiny. She grew up to be the
+saviour of Paris, and to-day her name is honored in a fine church
+dedicated to her memory. It was the crowning honor of Millet's life
+that he was commissioned to paint on the walls of this church
+scenes from the life of Ste. Genevi&egrave;ve. He did not live to
+do the work, but one cannot help believing that his ideals of the
+maiden of Nanterre must have taken some such shape as this picture
+of the Shepherdess.</p>
+
+<p>In the painting from which our illustration is reproduced, the
+colors are rich and glowing. The girl's dress is blue and her cap a
+bright red. The light shining on her cloak turns it a rich golden
+brown. Earth and sky are glorified by the beautiful sunset
+light.</p>
+
+<p>As we look across the plain, the earth seems to stretch away on
+every side into infinite distance. We are carried out of ourselves
+into the boundless liberty of God's great world. "The still small
+voice of the level twilight" speaks to us out of the "calm and
+luminous distance."</p>
+
+<p>Ruskin has sought to explain the strange attractive power which
+luminous space has for us. "There is one thing that it has, or
+suggests," he says, "which no other object of sight suggests in
+equal degree, and that is,&mdash;Infinity. It is of all visible
+things the least material, the least finite, the farthest withdrawn
+from the earth prison-house, the most typical of the nature of God,
+the most suggestive of the glory of his dwelling place."<a name=
+'FNanchor_2_10'></a><a href='#Footnote_2_10'><sup>[2]</sup></a></p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+ <a name='Footnote_1_9'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_9'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>Like the watchdog described in Longfellow's <i>Evangeline</i>,
+Part II.</p>
+</div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_2_10'></a><a href='#FNanchor_2_10'>[2]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>In <i>Modern Painters</i>, in chapter on "Infinity," from which
+also the other quotations are drawn.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='thewomanfeedinghens'></a>
+<h2>VI</h2>
+
+<h3>THE WOMAN FEEDING HENS</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>In walking through a French village, we get as little idea of
+the home life of the people as if we were in a large town or city.
+The houses usually border directly upon the street, and the spaces
+between are closed with high walls, shutting in the thoroughfare as
+completely as in a city "block." Behind these barriers each family
+carries on its domestic affairs in the privacy of its own domain.
+The <i>cour</i>, or dooryard, is the enclosure adjoining the house,
+and is surrounded on all sides by buildings or walls. Beyond this
+the more prosperous have also a garden or orchard, likewise
+surrounded by high walls.</p>
+
+<p>In the dooryard are performed many of the duties both of the
+barn and the house. Here the cows are milked, the horses groomed,
+the sheep sheared, and the poultry fed. Here, too, is the
+children's playground, safe from the dangers of the street, and
+within hearing of the mother's voice.</p>
+
+<img src="images/womanhens.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co. John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc. THE WOMAN FEEDING HENS"
+ align="right">
+
+<p>It is into such a dooryard that we seem to be looking in this
+picture of The Woman Feeding Hens. It is a common enough little
+house which we see, built of stone, plastered over, in the fashion
+of the French provinces, and very low. In the long wall from the
+door to the garden gate is only one small high window. But time and
+nature have done much to beautify the spot. In the cracks of the
+roof, thatched or tiled, whichever it may be, many a vagrant seed
+has found lodgment. The weeds have grown up in profusion to cover
+the bare little place with leaf and flower. Indeed, there is here a
+genuine roof garden of the prettiest sort, and it extends along the
+stone wall separating the dooryard from the garden. Some one who
+has seen these vine-fringed walls in Barbizon describes them as gay
+with "purple orris, stonecrop, and pellitory."</p>
+
+<p>A young wife presides in the little cottage home and rules her
+side of the dooryard with gentle sway. She has a curly-haired baby
+boy who creeps after her as she goes about her work. His inquiring
+mind is at this age investigating all the corners of the house, and
+before long he will be the young master of the dooryard.</p>
+
+<p>The housewife boasts a small brood of hens. Early in the morning
+the voice of the chanticleer is heard greeting the dawn. Presently
+he leads his family forth to begin their day's scratching in the
+dooryard. Here and there they wander with contented clucks, as they
+find now and then a worm or grub for a titbit. But it is only a
+poor living which is to be earned by scratching. The thrifty
+housewife sees to it that her brood are well fed. At regular times
+she comes out of the house to feed them with grain, as she is doing
+now.</p>
+
+<p>The baby hears the mother's voice saying, in what is the French
+equivalent, "Here chick-chick-chick," and creeps swiftly to the
+door. He, too, tries to call "chick-chick." He watches the odd
+creatures eagerly as they gobble up the seed. They stand about in a
+circle, heads all together in the centre, bobbing up and down as
+long as any food remains. Chanticleer holds back with true
+gallantry, and with an air of masculine superiority. The belated
+members of the brood come running up as fast as they can. The apron
+holds a generous supply, so that there is enough for all, but the
+housewife doles it out prudently by the handful, that none may
+suffer through the greediness of the others.</p>
+
+<p>As we study the lines of the picture a little, they teach us
+some important lessons in composition. We note first the series of
+perpendicular lines at regular intervals across the width of the
+picture. These counterbalance the effect of the long perspective
+which is so skilfully indicated in the drawing of the house and the
+garden walk. The perspective is secured chiefly by three converging
+lines, the roof and ground lines of the house, and the line of the
+garden walk. These lines if extended would meet at a single
+point.</p>
+
+<p>Once more let us recall Ruskin's teaching in regard to enclosed
+spaces.<a name='FNanchor_1_11'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_1_11'><sup>[1]</sup></a> The artist is unhappy if shut
+in by impenetrable barriers. There must always be, he says, some
+way of escape, it matters not by how narrow a path, so that the
+imagination may have its liberty.</p>
+
+<p>This is the principle which our painter has applied in his
+picture. He wisely gives us a glimpse of the sky above, and shows
+us the shady vista of the garden walk leading to the great world
+beyond.</p>
+
+<p>Our illustration is from a charcoal drawing, which, like the
+Knitting Lesson, is matched by a corresponding painting.</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<a name='Footnote_1_11'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_11'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>In <i>Modern Painters</i> in the chapter on "Infinity."</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='theangelus'></a>
+<h2>VII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE ANGELUS</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>The early twilight of autumn has overtaken two peasants at the
+close of a day's work in the field. They are gathering the potato
+harvest. The dried plants are first pulled up, and the potatoes
+carefully dug out of the holes. Then the vegetables are taken from
+the furrows by the basketful, and poured into brown linen sacks to
+be carried home on the wheelbarrow. One of these sacks is not yet
+quite full, and the work has been prolonged after sunset.</p>
+
+<p>The field is a long way from the village, but in the still air
+sounds are carried far across the plain. Suddenly the bell of the
+village church peals forth. The man stops digging and plunges his
+fork into the earth, and the woman hastily rises from her stooping
+posture. The Angelus bell is ringing, and it calls them to
+prayer.</p>
+
+<p>Three times each day, at sunrise, midday, and sunset, this bell
+reminds the world of the birth of Jesus Christ. The strokes are
+rung in three groups, corresponding to the three parts of The
+Angelus, which are recited in turn. The first word gives the bell
+its name,&mdash;Angelus, the Latin for angel.</p>
+
+<br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>"The angel of the Lord announced to
+Mary,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And she conceived of the Holy
+Spirit.</span><br>
+<br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>"Behold the handmaid of the
+Lord,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Be it done unto me according to thy
+word.</span><br>
+<br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>"And the word was made
+flesh</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And dwelt among us."</span><br>
+<br>
+<p>Thus run the words of the translation in the three couplets into
+which they are separated, and then this prayer is added: "We
+beseech thee, O Lord, pour forth thy grace into our hearts; that as
+we have known the incarnation of thy Son Jesus Christ by the
+message of an angel, so by his cross and passion we may be brought
+into the glory of his resurrection, through the same Jesus Christ
+our Lord."</p>
+
+<p>Besides this, after each couplet of the Angelus, is recited that
+short hymn of praise, beginning with the words which the angel of
+the annunciation addressed to Mary,<a name='FNanchor_1_12'></a><a
+href='#Footnote_1_12'><sup>[1]</sup></a> "Ave Maria." This is why
+the hour after sunset is so often called the hour of Ave Maria. The
+English poet Byron has written of this solemn moment:&mdash;</p>
+
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>"Ave Maria! blessed be the
+hour!</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>The time, the clime, the spot,
+where I so oft</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Have felt that moment in its
+fullest power</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Sink o'er the earth so beautiful
+and soft,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>While swung the deep bell in the
+distant tower,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Or the faint dying day-hymn stole
+aloft,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And not a breath crept through the
+rosy air,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And yet the forest leaves seemed
+stirred with prayer."</span><br>
+ <img src="images/angelus.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co. John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc. THE ANGELUS"
+ align="left">
+
+<p>The atmosphere of prayer pervades the picture. The woman stands
+with bowed head and hands clasped over her breast. Her whole body
+sways slightly forward in the intensity of her devotion. Her
+husband has bared his head and holds his hat before him. Though he
+may seem somewhat awkward, he is not less sincerely reverent.</p>
+
+<p>The sunset light shines on the woman's blue apron, gilds the
+potato sacks in the wheelbarrow, and gleams along the furrows.
+Farther away, the withered plants are heaped in rows of little
+piles. Beyond, the level plain stretches to meet the glowing sky,
+and, outlined on the horizon, is the spire of the church where the
+bells are ringing.</p>
+
+<p>As the meaning of the picture grows upon us, we can almost hear
+the ringing of the bells. Indeed, to those familiar with such
+scenes in actual life, the impression is very vivid. The friend to
+whom Millet first showed his painting immediately exclaimed, "It is
+the Angelus." "Then you can hear the bells," said the artist, and
+was content.</p>
+
+<p>The solemn influence of the picture is deepened by the effects
+of the twilight on the plains. A wide outlook across a level
+country, like a view of the sea, is always impressive, but it has
+peculiar power in the vague light which follows the sunset. Many
+poetic natures have felt this mystic spell of the gloaming as it
+descends upon the plain. Robert Louis Stevenson was one of these,
+and upon visiting Barbizon he described vividly his feelings at
+such an hour. We are told also that Millet loved to walk abroad at
+nightfall and note the mysterious effects of the twilight. "It is
+astonishing," he once said to his brother in such a walk, "how
+grand everything on the plain appears, towards the approach of
+night, especially when we see the figures thrown out against the
+sky. Then they look like giants."</p>
+
+<p>In nearly all of Millet's pictures people are busy doing
+something. Either hands or feet, and sometimes both hands and feet,
+are in motion. They are pictures of action. In the Angelus,
+however, people are resting from labor; it is a picture of repose.
+The busy hands cease their work a moment, and the spirit rises in
+prayer. We have already seen, in other pictures, how labor may be
+lightened by love. Here we see labor glorified by piety.</p>
+
+<p>The painting of the Angelus has had a remarkable history. The
+patron for whom it was first intended was disappointed with the
+picture when finished, and Millet had no little difficulty in
+finding a purchaser. In the course of time it became one of the
+most popular works of the painter, and is probably better known in
+our country than any other of his pictures. In 1889 it was bought
+by an American, and was carried on an exhibition tour through most
+of the large cities of the United States. Finally it returned to
+France, where it is now in the collection of M. Chauchard.</p>
+
+<p>The Angelus is one of the few of Millet's works which have
+changed with time. The color has grown dark and the canvas has
+cracked somewhat, owing to the use of bitumen in the painting.</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+ <a name='Footnote_1_12'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_12'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>"Hail Mary"; see St. Luke, chapter i., verse 28.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='fillingthewaterbottles'></a>
+<h2>VIII</h2>
+
+<h3>FILLING THE WATER-BOTTLES</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>The artist Millet loved to draw as well as to paint. Black and
+white pictures had their charm for him as truly as those in color.
+Indeed, he once said that "tone," which is the most important part
+of color, can be perfectly expressed in black and white. It is
+therefore not strange that he made many drawings. Some of these,
+like the Knitting Lesson and the Woman Feeding Hens, were, as we
+have seen, studies for paintings. The picture called Filling the
+Water-Bottles was, on the other hand, a charcoal drawing,
+corresponding to no similar painting. It is in itself a finished
+work of art.</p>
+
+<p>It is a typical French river scene which we see here, and it
+gives us an idea how large a part a river may take in the life of
+French country people. Sometimes it is the sole source of water for
+a village. Then it is not only the common village laundry, in which
+all clothing is washed, but it is also the great village fountain,
+from which all drinking-water is drawn.</p>
+
+<img src="images/waterbottles.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co. FILLING THE WATER-BOTTLES John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc."
+ align="right">
+
+<p>The women in our picture have come to the bank with big earthen
+jars to fill. It is in the cool of early morning, and the mist
+still lies thick over the marshes bordering the river. The sun,
+seen through the mist, looks like a round ball. On the farther
+bank, where a group of poplars grow, some horsemen ride up to ford
+the stream. They, too, are setting forth early on their day's work.
+One is already half across.</p>
+
+<p>The women have picked out, along the marshy bank, a point of
+land jutting into the river like a miniature promontory, and
+seemingly of firm soil. It is only large enough to hold one at a
+time, so they take turns. One is now filling a bottle, while the
+other waits, standing beside two jars.</p>
+
+<p>The first woman kneels on the ground, and supporting herself
+firmly by placing one hand on the edge of the bank, she grasps the
+jar by the handle, with her free right hand, and swings it well out
+over the water. Experience has taught her the most scientific way
+of filling the jar with least muscular strain. She does not try to
+plunge it down into the water, but holding it on its side, slightly
+tipped, draws it along with the mouth half under the surface,
+sucking in the water as it moves. We see what hard, firm muscles
+she has to hold the arm out so tensely. Her arm acts like a compass
+describing the arc of a circle through the water with the jar. As
+we look, we can almost see her completing the circle, and drawing
+up the full jar upon the bank.</p>
+
+<p>The woman who waits her turn is capable of the same feat. There
+is power in every line of her figure as she stands in what has been
+well described by a critic as a "majestic pose." She straightens
+back to rest, with her arms on her hips, quite unconscious that
+there is anything fine in her appearance.</p>
+
+<p>Look a minute and you will see that she is the woman of the
+Angelus. As we saw her in the other picture, with head bowed and
+hands clasped on her breast, we did not realize how grand and
+strong she was. But raising her head, throwing back her chest, and
+putting her arms on her sides, she shows us now her full power.</p>
+
+<p>Both women are dressed alike in the clothing which is now
+familiar to us from the other pictures,&mdash;coarse gowns made
+with scanty skirts, long aprons reaching nearly to the bottom of
+the dress, kerchiefs fastened snugly about their heads, and wooden
+sabots. We could not imagine anything that would become them
+better. It is part of the French nature to understand the art of
+dressing, and this art is found just as truly among the peasants of
+the provinces as in the fashionable world at Paris.</p>
+
+<p>The picture is a study in black and white which any one who
+cares for drawing will wish to examine attentively. He was indeed a
+master who could, with a single bit of charcoal, make us feel the
+witchery of this early morning hour by the river-side. We note the
+many different "tones" of the picture,&mdash;the faint soft mist of
+the distant atmosphere over the marshes, growing darker on the
+poplars and the hilly bank in the middle distance; the shadow of
+the bank in the river; the gleam of the sunlight on the calm water
+mid-stream; the ripples about the jar; the sharply defined figures
+of the women, dark on the side turned from the sun; and the
+quivering shadow of the kneeling woman in the ripple-broken water
+in front.</p>
+
+<p>Among primitive peoples the hour of sunrise was a sacred time,
+when hymns were sung and sacrifices were offered to the life-giving
+sun. The painter Millet has expressed something of the mystic
+solemnity of the hour in this picture. The sun has awakened the
+world to work, and in its strength men and women go forth to
+labor.<a name='FNanchor_1_13'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_1_13'><sup>[1]</sup></a></p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+ <a name='Footnote_1_13'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_13'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>A fine passage on the morning occurs in Thoreau's second chapter
+of <i>Walden</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='feedingherbirds'></a>
+<h2>IX</h2>
+
+<h3>FEEDING HER BIRDS</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>As we have already seen in the picture of the Woman Feeding
+Hens, the dooryard in French village homes is so shut in by walls,
+that it has the privacy of a family living-room. This was the
+arrangement in Millet's own home at Barbizon. The painter was among
+the fortunate ones who had a garden beyond the dooryard. At the
+other end of this was his studio, where he worked many hours of the
+day. It is said that he used to leave the door open that he might
+hear the children's voices at their play. Sometimes, indeed, he
+would call them in to look at his pictures, and was always much
+pleased when they seemed to understand and like them. We may be
+sure that he often looked across the garden to the dooryard where
+the family life was going on, and at such times he must have caught
+many a pretty picture. Perhaps our picture of this mother feeding
+her children was suggested in this way.</p>
+
+<p>Three healthy, happy children have been playing about in the
+yard,&mdash;a girl of six, her younger sister, and a brother still
+younger. They are dressed simply, so as to enjoy themselves
+thoroughly without fear of injuring any fine clothes. All three
+wear long aprons and wooden sabots. The little girls have their
+flying hair confined in close bonnet caps tied under the chin. The
+boy rejoices in a round cap ornamented on top with a button. The
+sisters take great care of their little brother.</p>
+
+<p>The toys are of a very rude sort and evidently of home
+manufacture. A cart is constructed of a board set on clumsy wheels.
+A doll is roughly shaped of wood and wrapped in a hood and blanket.
+There is a basket besides, in which one can gather bits of treasure
+picked up here and there in the yard.</p>
+
+<img src="images/feedingbirds.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co. John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc. FEEDING HER BIRDS"
+ align="left">
+
+<p>By and by the play is interrupted by a familiar voice. The
+children look up and see their mother standing smiling in the
+doorway. A bowl which she has in her hand is still steaming, and an
+appetizing odor reminds them that they are hungry. The basket and
+the cart are hastily dropped, but not the doll, and they all run to
+the doorstep. The brother is placed in the middle and the sisters
+seat themselves on either side. The elder girl still holds her doll
+with maternal solicitude; the other two children clasp hands, and
+the sister's arm is put around the boy's neck.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the mother has seated herself directly in front of
+them, on a low stool such as is used by country people as a
+milking-stool. She tips it a little as she leans over to feed the
+children in turn from a long-handled wooden spoon. Of course the
+first taste is for the little brother, and he stretches out his
+neck eagerly, opening his mouth wide so as not to lose a drop. The
+sisters look on eagerly, the younger one opening her own mouth a
+little, quite unconsciously. An inquisitive hen runs up to see what
+good things there are to eat. In the garden beyond, the father
+works busily at his spading.</p>
+
+<p>The name which Millet gave to this picture is the French word
+<i>Becqu&eacute;e</i>, which cannot be translated into any
+corresponding word in English. It means a <i>beakful</i>, that is,
+the food which the mother bird holds in her beak to give to the
+nestlings.</p>
+
+<p>The painter had in mind, you see, a nestful of birds being fed.
+The similarity between the family and the bird life is closely
+carried out in the picture. The children sit together as snugly as
+birds in a nest. The mother bends toward them in a brooding
+attitude which is like the bird mother's. Her extended hand
+suggests a bird's beak, tapering to a sharp point at the end of the
+spoon. The young bird's mouth is wide open, and in pops the nice
+spoonful of broth! The house itself is made to look like a cosy
+little nest by the vine that embowers it. The sturdy stem runs up
+close by the doorstep and sends out over door and window its broad
+branches of beautiful green leaves.</p>
+
+<p>And just as the father bird watches the nest from his perch on
+some branch of the tree, the father at work in the garden can look
+from time to time at the little family circle in the doorway. As in
+the picture of the Woman Feeding Hens, the house is built of stone
+covered with plaster. The door casing is of large ill-matched
+blocks of stone. The dooryard is made to appear much larger by the
+glimpse of the orchard we get through the gateway. No out-of-door
+picture is complete which does not show something of the beauty of
+nature. The dooryard itself would be a bare place but for the shady
+garden beyond.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='thechurchatgreville'></a>
+<h2>X</h2>
+
+<h3>THE CHURCH AT GR&Eacute;VILLE</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>The village-commune of Gr&eacute;ville has nothing to make it
+famous except that it was the birthplace of the painter Millet. It
+is at the tip of Cape La Hague, which juts abruptly from the French
+coast into the English channel. The cape is a steep headland
+bristling with granite rocks and needles, and very desolate seen
+from the sea. Inland it is pleasant and fruitful, with apple
+orchards and green meadows.</p>
+
+<p>The village life centres about the church, for the inhabitants
+of Grenville are a serious and God-fearing people. The church is
+the spot around which cluster the most sacred associations of life.
+Here the babies are baptized, and the youths and maidens confirmed;
+here the young people are married, and from here young and old
+alike are carried to their last resting-place. The building is
+hallowed by the memories of many generations of pious
+ancestors.</p>
+
+<p>The Millet family lived in an outlying hamlet (Gruchy) of
+Grenville, and were somewhat far from the church. Yet they had even
+more associations with it than other village families. Here our
+painter's father had early shown his talent for music at the head
+of the choir of boys who sang at the Sunday service. Here at one
+time his old uncle priest, Charles Millet, held the office of vicar
+and went every morning to say mass.</p>
+
+<p>Among the earliest recollections of Jean Fran&ccedil;ois was a
+visit to the church of Gr&eacute;ville at a time when some new
+bells had just been bought. They were first to be baptized, as was
+the custom, before being hung in the tower, and it was while they
+still stood on the ground that the mother brought her little boy to
+see them. "I well remember how much I was impressed," he afterwards
+said, "at finding myself in so vast a place as the church, which
+seemed even more immense than our barn, and how the beauty of the
+big windows, with their lozenge-shaped panes, struck my
+imagination."</p>
+
+<p>At the age of twelve the boy went to be confirmed at the church
+of Gr&eacute;ville, and thenceforth had another memorable
+experience to associate with the place. The vicar, who questioned
+him, found him so intelligent that he offered to teach him Latin.
+The lessons led to the poems of Virgil, which opened a new world to
+him.</p>
+
+<img src="images/church.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co. John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc. THE CHURCH AT GR&Eacute;VILLE"
+ align="left">
+
+<p>Years passed; the boy became a man and the man became a famous
+artist. But the path to fame had been a toilsome one, and as Millet
+pressed on his way he was able to return but seldom to the spots he
+had loved in his youth, and then only on sad errands. At length the
+time came (1871) when the artist brought his entire family to his
+native Grenville to spend a long summer holiday. Millet made many
+sketches of familiar scenes which gave him material for work for
+the next three years. One of these pictures was that of the village
+church, which he began to paint sitting at one of the windows of
+the inn where the family were staying.</p>
+
+<p>If the building had lost the grandeur it possessed for his
+childish imagination, it was still full of artistic possibilities
+for a beautiful picture.</p>
+
+<p>It is a solid structure, and we fancy that the builders did not
+have far to bring the stone of which it is composed. The great
+granite cliffs which rise from the sea must be an inexhaustible
+quarry. The building is low and broad, to withstand the bleak
+winds. A less substantial structure, perched on this plateau, would
+be swept over the cliffs into the sea. There is something about it
+suggestive of the sturdy character of the Norman peasants
+themselves, strong, patient, and enduring. It is very old; the
+passing years have covered the walls with moss, and nature seems to
+have made the place her own. It is as if, instead of being built
+with hands, it were a portion of the old cliffs themselves.</p>
+
+<p>The grassy hillock against which the church nestles is filled
+with graves, a cross here and there marking the place where some
+more important personage is buried. Here is the sacred spot where
+Millet's saintly old grandmother was laid to rest. A rough stone
+wall surrounds the churchyard, as old and moss-grown as the
+building itself. Some stone steps leading into the yard are
+hollowed by the feet of many generations of worshippers. In the
+rear is a low stone house embowered in trees.</p>
+
+<p>The square bell-tower lifts a weather-vane against the sky, and
+the birds flock about it as about an old home. The rather steep
+roof is slightly depressed, as if beginning to sink in.</p>
+
+<p>With a painter's instinct Millet chose the point of view from
+which all the lines of the church would be most beautiful and
+whence we may see to the best advantage the quaint outlines of the
+tower. Beside this, he took for his work the day and hour when that
+great artist, the sun, could lend most effective help. So we see
+the simple little building at its best. The sky makes a glorious
+background, with fleecy clouds delicately veiling its brilliancy.
+The bright light throws a shadow of the tower across the roof,
+breaking the monotony of its length. The bareness of the big
+barn-like end is softened by the shadow in which it is seen. The
+plain side is decorated with the shadows of the buttresses and
+window embrasures.</p>
+
+<p>The sheep are as much at home here as the birds. They nibble
+contentedly in the road by the wall, and are undisturbed by the
+approach of a villager. Beyond, at the left, is a glimpse of the
+level stretch of the sea. This is a spot where earth and sky and
+water meet, where the fishermen from the sea and the ploughmen from
+the fields come to worship God.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='thesower'></a>
+<h2>XI</h2>
+
+<h3>THE SOWER</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>It is nightfall, and the sky is cloudy save where the last rays
+of the setting sun illumine a spot on the horizon. While the light
+lasts, the Sower still holds to his task of sowing the seed. A
+large sack of grain is fastened about his body and hangs at his
+left side, where one end of it is grasped firmly in the left hand
+lest any of the precious seed be spilled. Into this bag he plunges
+his right hand from time to time, and draws out a handful of grain
+which he flings into the furrow as he walks along.</p>
+
+<p>The Sower's task ended, a series of strange transformations
+begins in the life of the seed. The winter rain softens and swells
+it, and when spring comes it pushes its way up in a tiny shoot.
+Soon the slender blades appear in close lines; by and by the stalks
+grow tall and strong, and the field is full of the beautiful green
+grain.</p>
+
+<img src="images/sower.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co. John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc. THE SOWER"
+ align="right">
+
+<p>Then the hot summer sun shines with ripening power; the wheat
+turns a golden yellow; the ears bend under the weight of the grain,
+and it is time for the harvest. The reapers come with sickle and
+scythe, and the grain is cut, and bound into great sheaves. The
+thrashing follows, when the ear is shaken off the stalk, and the
+grain is winnowed. And now the mills take up the work, the golden
+wheat grains are crushed, and the fine white flour which they
+contain is sifted and put into bags. The flour is mixed and kneaded
+and baked, and at length comes forth from the oven a fragrant loaf
+of bread.</p>
+
+<p>Now bread is a necessity of life to the people, and the supply
+of bread turns on the history of the seed. If the harvest is
+plenty, the people may eat and be happy. If it is poor, they suffer
+the miseries of hunger. If it fails altogether, they die of
+starvation. It is then a solemn moment when the seed is planted.
+Often the sower begins his task by tossing a handful of grain into
+the air in the sign of a cross, offering a prayer for a blessing on
+the seed. His is a grave responsibility; every handful of seed
+means many loaves of bread for hungry mouths. He must choose the
+right kind of seed for his soil, the right kind of weather for the
+planting, and use the grain neither too lavishly nor too
+sparingly.<a name='FNanchor_1_14'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_1_14'><sup>[1]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>This is why the Sower in our picture takes his task so
+seriously. He carries in his hand the key to prosperity. He is a
+true king. Peasant though he is, he feels the dignity of his
+calling, and bears himself royally. He advances with a long
+swinging stride, measuring his steps rhythmically as if beating
+time to inaudible music. His right arm moves to and fro, swinging
+from the shoulder as on a pivot, and describing the arc of a
+circle.</p>
+
+<p>The hilly field in which he works is such as the painter Millet
+was familiar with in his peasant childhood in Normandy. A yoke of
+oxen are drawing the plough in the distance, as is the custom in
+that province. The Sower himself is a true Norman peasant.</p>
+
+<p>It is interesting to trace the outlines of the composition.
+There is first the long line on the Sower's right side, beginning
+at the shoulder and following the outer edge of the right leg to
+the ground. On the other side, curving to meet this, is a line
+which begins at the top of the head, follows the left arm and the
+overhanging sack, and is faintly continued by the tiny stream of
+seed which leaks from the corner of the bag and falls near the
+Sower's foot. Crossing these curves in the opposite direction are
+the lines of the right arm and the left leg. Thus the figure is
+painted in strong simple outlines such as we see in the statues by
+great sculptors.</p>
+
+<p>The line defining the edge of the field against the sky, sloping
+in the direction in which the Sower walks, adds to the impression
+of motion which is so strongly suggested by the picture. As we
+look, we almost expect to see the Sower reach the foot of the
+slope, and stride out of sight, still flinging the grain as he
+goes.</p>
+
+<p>There is another thing to note about the composition, and that
+is the perfect proportion of the single figure to the canvas which
+it so completely fills. This was the result of the painter's
+experiments. In the haste of his first inspiration he did not allow
+space enough to surround the Sower.<a name='FNanchor_2_15'></a><a
+href='#Footnote_2_15'><sup>[2]</sup></a> He then carefully traced
+the figure on a larger canvas and made a second picture. Afterwards
+the same subject was repeated in a Barbizon landscape.</p>
+
+<p>Our American poet William Cullen Bryant has written a poem
+called "The Song of the Sower," which is very suggestive in
+connection with Millet's painting.<a name='FNanchor_3_16'></a><a
+href='#Footnote_3_16'><sup>[3]</sup></a> This is the way the song
+ends:&mdash;</p>
+
+<br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>"Brethren, the sower's task is
+done,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>The seed is in its winter
+bed.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Now let the dark-brown mould be
+spread,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>To hide it from the sun,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And leave it to the kindly
+care</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Of the still earth and brooding
+air,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>As when the mother, from her
+breast,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Lays the hushed babe apart to
+rest,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And shades its eyes, and waits to
+see</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>How sweet its waking smile will
+be.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>The tempest now may smite, the
+sleet</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>All night on the drowned furrow
+beat,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And winds that, from the cloudy
+hold,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Of winter breathe the bitter
+cold,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Stiffen to stone the yellow
+mould,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Yet safe shall lie the
+wheat;</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Till, out of heaven's unmeasured
+blue</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Shall walk again the genial
+year,</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>To wake with warmth and nurse with
+dew</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>The germs we lay to slumber
+here."</span><br>
+ <br>
+<br>
+<a name='Footnote_1_14'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_14'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>For farmer's lore as to the diverse soils and diverse planting
+seasons, see Virgil's <i>Eclogues</i>, books i. and ii.</p>
+</div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_2_15'></a><a href='#FNanchor_2_15'>[2]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>In spite of this imperfection the first Sower is a highly prized
+painting and is in the Quincy-Shaw Collection, Boston.</p>
+</div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_3_16'></a><a href='#FNanchor_3_16'>[3]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>Compare also Victor Hugo's poem, often referred to in
+descriptions of this picture, <i>Saison des Semailles: Le
+Soir</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='thegleaners'></a>
+<h2>XII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE GLEANERS</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>It is harvest time on a large farm. The broad fields have been
+shorn of their golden grain, and men and women are still busy
+gathering it in. The binders have tied the wheat in sheaves with
+withes, the sheaves are piled upon a wagon and carried to a place
+near the farm buildings, where they are stacked in great mounds
+resembling enormous soup tureens. The overseer rides to and fro on
+his horse giving orders to the laborers.</p>
+
+<p>Now come the gleaners into the field to claim the time-honored
+privilege of gathering up the scattered ears still lying on the
+ground. The custom dates back to very early times.<a name=
+'FNanchor_1_17'></a><a href='#Footnote_1_17'><sup>[1]</sup></a> The
+ancient Hebrews had a strict religious law in regard to it: "When
+ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean
+riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither
+shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave
+them unto the poor, and to the stranger."<a name=
+'FNanchor_2_18'></a><a href='#Footnote_2_18'><sup>[2]</sup></a>
+Another law says that the gleanings are "for the fatherless and for
+the widow; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of
+thine hands."<a name='FNanchor_3_19'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_3_19'><sup>[3]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>This generous practice is still observed in France. The owner of
+a grain field would be afraid of bad luck to the harvest if he
+should refuse to let the gleaners in after the reapers. Gleaning
+is, however, allowed only in broad daylight, that no dishonest
+persons may carry away entire sheaves.</p>
+
+<p>It is near noon of a summer day, and the sun is high in the
+heavens, casting only small shadows about the feet. The gleaners
+are three women of the poorer peasant class. They are tidily
+dressed in their coarse working clothes, and wear kerchiefs tied
+over their heads, with the edge projecting a little over the
+forehead to shade the eyes. The dresses are cut rather low in the
+neck, for theirs is warm work.</p>
+
+<p>They make their way through the coarse stubble, as sharp as
+needles, gathering here and there a stray ear of the precious
+wheat. Already they have collected enough to make several little
+bundles, tied neatly, and piled together on the ground at one
+side.</p>
+
+<img src="images/gleaners.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co. John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc. THE GLEANERS"
+ align="left">
+
+<p>As we look at them closely we see that they represent the three
+ages of womanhood: there is a maiden, a matron, and an old woman.
+The nearest figure, standing at the right, is the eldest of the
+three. She cannot bear the strain of stooping long at a time, and
+bends stiffly and painfully to her task. Next her is a solidly
+built woman, with square figure and a broad back capable of bearing
+heavy burdens. Those strong large hands have done hard work. The
+third figure is that of a young woman with a lithe, girlish form.
+With a girl's thought for appearance she has pinned her kerchief so
+that the ends at the back form a little cape to shield her neck
+from the burning sun. Unlike her companions, she wears no apron.
+While the others use their aprons doubled up to form sacks for
+their gleanings, she holds her grain in her hand.</p>
+
+<p>If you will try in turn each one of the positions taken by the
+several figures, you will see how differently the three work. The
+two who put the grain in the apron, or pass it into the hand which
+rests on the knee, must every time lift themselves up with an
+awkward backward motion. The younger gleaner has found a short and
+direct route from one hand to the other, by resting the left hand,
+palm up, upon the back, where the right can reach it by a simple
+upward motion of the arm which requires no exertion of the body.
+Her method saves the strength and is more graceful.</p>
+
+<p>Moving forward in the stooping posture, with eyes fixed upon the
+ground, the figures of the gleaners have been compared to great
+grasshoppers, making their odd, irregular, hopping progress across
+the field. Even as we look they seem to move toward us.</p>
+
+<p>The picture is a fine study in lines. The middle figure is
+constructed in a square outline, and this square effect is
+emphasized in various ways,&mdash;by the right angle formed between
+the line across the bust and the right arm, by the square corner
+between chin and neck, and by the square shape of the kerchief at
+the back of the head. We thus get an idea of the solid, prosaic
+character of the woman herself.</p>
+
+<p>The younger woman is a creature of beautiful curves. The lines
+of her back and bust flow together in an oval figure which the
+position of the left arm completes. The outstretched right arm
+continues the fine line across the back. The lovely curve of the
+throat, the shapeliness of the hand, even the pretty adjustment of
+the kerchief, lend added touches to the charm of the youthful
+figure.</p>
+
+<p>The lines of the standing figure curve towards the other two,
+and carry the composition to sufficient height. The lines enclosing
+the entire group form a mound-like figure not unlike a wheat stack
+in shape. A wheat stack faintly seen across the distance in the
+centre of the field marks the apex of the mound, the sides being
+formed by the outer lines of the two outer figures.</p>
+
+<p>When we compare the picture with the others we have seen in the
+same general style of composition, showing a level plain with
+figures in front, we note how much more detail the background of
+the Gleaners contains. This is because the figures do not come
+above the horizon line, as do those in the Angelus and Shepherdess.
+Hence the eye must be led upward by minor objects, to take in the
+entire panorama spread before us.</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+ <a name='Footnote_1_17'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_17'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>See the Book of Ruth.</p>
+</div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_2_18'></a><a href='#FNanchor_2_18'>[2]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>Leviticus, chapter xxiii., verse 22.</p>
+</div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_3_19'></a><a href='#FNanchor_3_19'>[3]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>Deuteronomy, chapter xxiv., verse 19.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='themilkmaid'></a>
+<h2>XIII</h2>
+
+<h3>THE MILKMAID<a name='FNanchor_1_20'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_1_20'><sup>[1]</sup></a></h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>All through the years of Millet's life and work in Barbizon, his
+thoughts used to turn often to the little village in Normandy where
+he spent his youth. His early life in the fields impressed upon his
+memory all the out-of-door sights peculiar to his native province.
+The customs of peasants in France differ in the various provinces
+just as do ours in the various states. Some of the household
+utensils in Millet's childhood's home were such as he never saw
+elsewhere, and always remembered with pleasure. The ways of doing
+the work in Gr&eacute;ville were not altogether like the ways of
+Barbizon, and Millet's observant eye and retentive memory noted
+these differences with interest. When he revisited his home in
+later life, he made careful sketches of some of the jugs and
+kitchen utensils used in the family. He even carried off to his
+Barbizon studio one particular brass jar which was used when the
+girl went to the field to milk cows. He also sketched a girl
+carrying a jug of milk on her shoulder in the fashion of the place.
+Out of such studies was made our picture of the Milkmaid. "Women in
+my country carry jars of milk in that way," said the painter when
+explaining the picture to a visitor at his studio, and went on to
+tell of other features of the life in Normandy, which he reproduced
+in his pictures, though some of them he had not seen in all the
+long time since his boyhood. As a reminiscence of Normandy the
+Milkmaid is a companion piece to the Sower. There are other points
+of resemblance between the two pictures, as we shall see.</p>
+
+<img src="images/milkmaid.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co, John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc. THE MILKMAID"
+ align="right">
+
+<p>The day draws to its close in splendor, and the western sky is
+all aflame. Against this brilliant background the figure of the
+Milkmaid looms up grandly as she advances along the path through
+the meadow. She is returning from the field which lies on the other
+slope of the hill. There the cows are pastured and a rude fence
+marks the boundary. The girl has been out for the milking, and a
+cow near the fence turns its head in the direction of her
+retreating figure.</p>
+
+<p>The milk is carried in a large jar on the left shoulder. By
+holding the left arm akimbo, hand resting on the hip, the girl
+makes her shoulder a little broader, as it were, enlarging the
+support of the jar. The way in which the burden is kept in place is
+very interesting. To put up the right arm to steady it would be
+impossible, for the arm is not long enough to insure a firm grasp
+upon so heavy a weight. So a cord or strap is passed through the
+handle of the jar, carried over the head, and held in the right
+hand. The strong arm is stretched tense to keep the strap tight.
+The head must of course be protected from the straining of the
+cord, the shoulder from the pressure of the jar. Both are therefore
+well padded. The head pad resembles a cap hanging in lappets on
+each side. Even with this protection the girl's face shows the
+strain.</p>
+
+<p>A picture like this teaches us that there are other ways of
+giving a figure beauty than by making the face pretty. Just as
+Millet's Shepherdess differs altogether from the little Bopeep of
+the nursery tale, so this peasant girl is not at all like the
+pretty milkmaids who carry milking-stools and shining pails through
+the pages of the picture books. Millet had no patience with such
+pictures. Pretty girls were not fit for hard work, he said, and he
+always wanted to have the people he painted look as if they
+belonged to their station. Fitness was in his mind one of the chief
+elements of beauty.</p>
+
+<p>So he shows us in this Milkmaid a young woman framed in the
+massive proportions of an Amazon, and eminently fitted for her lot
+in life. Her chief beauty lies in the expression of her splendidly
+developed figure. Her choicest gifts are the health and virtue
+which most abound in the free life of God's country.</p>
+
+<br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>"God made the country, and man made
+the town.</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>What wonder, then, that health and
+virtue, gifts</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>That can alone make sweet the
+bitter draught</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>That life holds out to all, should
+most abound</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And least be threatened in the
+fields and groves."<a name='FNanchor_2_21'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_2_21'><sup>[2]</sup></a></span><br>
+<br>
+<p>A study of the lines of the picture will show the artistic
+beauty of the composition. You may trace a long beautiful curve
+beginning at the girl's finger tip and extending along the cord
+across the top of the milk jar. Starting from the same point
+another good line follows the arm and shoulder across the face and
+along the edge of the jar. At the base of the composition we find
+corresponding lines which may be drawn from the toe of the right
+foot. One follows the diagonal of the path and the other runs along
+the edge of the lifted skirt.</p>
+
+<p>There are other fine lines in the drawing of the bodice and the
+folds of the skirt. Altogether they are as few in number and as
+strongly emphasized, though not so grand, as those of the
+Sower.</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+ <a name='Footnote_1_20'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_20'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>The title of Water-Carrier has been incorrectly attached to this
+picture, though the sketch on which it is based is properly known
+as the Milkmaid.</p>
+</div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_2_21'></a><a href='#FNanchor_2_21'>[2]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>From Cowper's <i>Task</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='thewomanchurning'></a>
+<h2>XIV</h2>
+
+<h3>THE WOMAN CHURNING</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>Again we are in the picturesque province of Normandy, and are
+shown the interior of a dairy where a woman is busy churning. It is
+a quaint place, with raftered ceiling and stone-paved floor, and
+the furnishings are only such as are required by the work in hand.
+On some wooden shelves against the farther wall are vessels of
+earthenware and metal, to hold cream, cheese, butter, and the like.
+The churn is one of the old-fashioned upright sort, not unlike
+those used in early New England households, and large enough to
+contain a good many quarts of cream. The woman stands beside it,
+grasping with both hands the handle of the dasher, or plunger,
+which is worked up and down to keep the cream in motion and so
+change it into butter.</p>
+
+<p>In the beginning of the churning process the movement of the
+dasher is slow, so that the cream may be thoroughly mixed. Then it
+goes more rapidly for a time, till, just as the arms grow weary,
+the butter begins to "come," when the speed slackens to the end,
+the entire process occupying thirty or forty minutes. The butter
+collects in yellow lumps, which are at length taken from the churn,
+washed and kneaded to press out the buttermilk, and then moulded
+into pats. The pleasure of the finishing touches makes up for the
+fatiguing monotony of the churning. George Eliot, in the novel of
+"Adam Bede," gives a charming description of Hetty Sorrel's
+butter-making, with all the pretty attitudes and movements of
+patting and rolling the sweet-scented butter into moulds.</p>
+
+<img src="images/womanchurning.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co. John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc. THE WOMAN CHURNING"
+ align="right">
+
+<p>We can hardly tell, from the attitude of the woman in our
+picture, how far her work has progressed, but her expression of
+satisfaction seems to show that the butter is "coming" well. The
+work of butter-making varies curiously at different times.
+Sometimes the butter comes quickly and easily, and again, only
+after long and laborious delays. There seems, indeed, no rule about
+the process; it appears to be all a matter of "luck." Country
+people have always been very superstitious in regard to it; and not
+understanding the true reasons for a successful or an unsuccessful
+churning, they attribute any remarkable effects to supernatural
+agencies.</p>
+
+<p>In the old days of witchcraft superstitions, they used to think
+that when the cream did not readily turn to butter, the churn had
+been tampered with by some witch, like Mabel Martin's mother in
+Whittier's poem. Witches were sometimes supposed to work a baleful
+charm on the milk by putting under the doorsill some magical
+object, such as a picture of a toad or a lizard.</p>
+
+<p>In Scotland, when churning was easy it was because of the secret
+help of the "brownie." He was a tiny, elf-like creature who lived
+in the barn and was never seen of men; but his presence was made
+known by his many deeds of helpfulness in kitchen and dairy, for
+which he was rewarded by a daily bowl of milk. Those who have read
+George MacDonald's story of Sir Gibbie remember how the little waif
+from the city was mistaken for a brownie because he secretly helped
+in the churning.</p>
+
+<p>In France a pious class of peasants pray to St. Blaise for a
+blessing on their various farm occupations, including the dairy
+work. A hymn written to the saint contains this
+petition:&mdash;</p>
+
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>"In our dairies, curds and
+cream</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>And fair cheeses may we
+see:</span><br>
+<span style='margin-left: 1em;'>Great St. Blaise, oh, grant our
+plea."<a name='FNanchor_1_22'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_1_22'><sup>[1]</sup></a></span><br>
+
+
+<p>Some such prayer as this may be running through the mind of the
+woman in our picture. She has the earnest and simple character
+which belongs to the Norman peasant. Hers is a kindly nature, too,
+and the cat rubs familiarly against her as if sure of a friend who
+has often set a saucer of milk in his way. With sleeves rolled up
+and skirts tucked about her, she attacks her work in a strong,
+capable way which shows that it is a pleasure. The light comes from
+some high window at the left, and, gleaming on her arms, shows how
+firm and hard the flesh is.</p>
+
+<p>We know that this is a Norman peasant woman from her tall cap.
+There are many styles of caps peculiar to different parts of
+France, but those worn in Normandy are remarkable for their height.
+When some of the people of this province emigrated to the western
+continent and settled in Acadia, the land of Evangeline, the women
+brought their caps with them and continued to wear them many years,
+as we read in Longfellow's "Evangeline."</p>
+
+<p>Our previous studies of the other pictures of this collection
+help us to see at once the good points of composition in the Woman
+Churning. The main lines of the group in the foreground form a tall
+pyramid. The shape of the churn gives us the line at the right
+side, and the figure of the cat carries the line of the woman's
+skirt into a corresponding slant on the left. The lines of the
+tiled floor add to the pyramidal effect by converging in
+perspective. Even the broom leaning against the shelf near the door
+takes the same diagonal direction as the tiles of the right
+side.</p>
+
+<p>We have here also a new illustration of the art of treating
+inclosed spaces.<a name='FNanchor_2_23'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_2_23'><sup>[2]</sup></a> An outlet is given to the room
+through the door opening into the farmyard. Across the yard stands
+a low cow-shed, in which a woman is seated milking a cow. This
+building, however, does not altogether block up the view from the
+dairy door. Above the roof is a strip of sky, and through a square
+window at the back is seen a bit of the meadow.</p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<a name='Footnote_1_22'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_22'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>From Ronsard's "Hymn to St. Blaise," translated by Henry Naegely
+in <i>J.F. Millet and Rustic Art</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_2_23'></a><a href='#FNanchor_2_23'>[2]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>See chapters ii. and vi.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='themanwiththehoe'></a>
+<h2>XV</h2>
+
+<h3>THE MAN WITH THE HOE</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>To the peasant farmer every month of the year brings its own
+labors. From seed time to harvest there is a constant succession of
+different tasks, and hardly is the harvest gathered in before it is
+time to prepare again for planting. Before ploughing can be begun
+the fields must first be cleared of stubble and weeds. Now in
+Millet's village of Barbizon, this clearing of the fields was done,
+in his day, by means of an implement called in French a
+<i>houe</i>. Although we translate the word as hoe, the tool is
+quite unlike the American article of that name. It looks a little
+like a carpenter's adze, though much larger and heavier, the blade
+being as broad as that of a shovel. The handle is short and the
+implement is very clumsy and fatiguing to use. Even the stoutest
+peasant finds the work wearisome.</p>
+
+<p>The man in our picture has paused for a moment's rest in this
+toilsome labor, and leans panting on his hoe. In the heat of his
+toil he has thrown off his hat and blouse, which now lie together
+on the ground behind him. His damp hair is matted together on his
+forehead, his brawny chest is exposed by the open shirt, his horny
+hands are clasped over the hoe handle. Some distant object catches
+his eye. It may be a farm wagon moving across the plain, or perhaps
+a bird flying through the clear air. To follow the course of such
+an object a moment is a welcome change from the monotonous rise and
+fall of the hoe.</p>
+
+<p>It is a rough and uneven field in which the laborer works,
+rising here and there in small hillocks, and thickly overgrown with
+brambles and coarse tufts of herbage. When these weeds are loosened
+from the soil, they are raked in little heaps and burned. In the
+field just back of this is a circle of these bonfires, sending up
+their columns of smoke towards the sky. A young woman is busy
+raking together the piles. In the distance she looks like a
+priestess of ancient times presiding at some mystic rites of fire
+worship. Far beyond, a shapely tree is outlined against the
+horizon.</p>
+
+<img src="images/manwithhoe.jpg" alt=
+"From a carbon print by Braun, Cl&eacute;ment &amp; Co. John Andrew &amp; Son, Sc. THE MAN WITH THE HOE"
+ align="left">
+
+<p>To study this picture profitably, we must consider separately
+the subject and the artistic qualities. These two elements in a
+work of art are often confused, but are in reality quite distinct.
+Very unpleasant subjects have sometimes been employed in pictures
+of great artistic merit, and again beautiful subjects have
+sometimes been treated very indifferently. When great art is united
+with a great subject, we have ideal perfection; but poor art and a
+poor subject together are intolerable. Now some people think only
+of the subject when they look at a picture, and others, more
+critical, look only at the qualities of art it contains. The best
+way of all is to try to understand something of both.</p>
+
+<p>In the first glance at this picture we do not find the subject
+very attractive. The laborer is awkward, he is stupid looking, and
+he is very weary. If we are to look at laborers, we like to see
+them graceful, intelligent, and active like the Sower. As a
+redeeming quality, the Man with the Hoe has a certain patient
+dignity which commands our respect, but with all that, we do not
+call it a pleasant subject.</p>
+
+<p>But look a moment at the strong, noble outlines of the drawing
+and see how finely modelled is the figure. So carefully did Millet
+study this work that he first modelled the figure in clay that he
+might give it more vitality in the painting. This Man with the Hoe
+seems indeed not a painted figure, but a real living, breathing
+human being, whom we can touch and find of solid flesh and
+blood.</p>
+
+<p>We must note, too, how grandly the figure is thrown out against
+the sky and the plain. There is something to observe, also, in the
+proportions of the man to the background. The broad pyramid made by
+the bending figure and the hoe needs plenty of space at each side
+to set it off, hence the oblong shape of the picture. These, and
+other artistic qualities not so easily observed and understood, all
+give the picture "a place among the greater artistic conceptions of
+all time."</p>
+
+<p>The Man with the Hoe has probably caused more discussion than
+any other of Millet's paintings. From the very first those who care
+only for the subject of a picture have condemned it, while the
+critics have praised its artistic qualities. Many have thought that
+Millet made the subject as unpleasant as possible in order to show
+the degrading effects of work. The same theory was suggested when
+the Sower and the Gleaners appeared. The painter himself was much
+troubled by these misunderstandings. "I have never dreamed of being
+a pleader in any cause," he said. He simply painted life as he saw
+it, and had no thought of teaching strange doctrines against labor.
+Indeed, no man ever felt more deeply than he the dignity of
+labor.</p>
+
+<p>When everything which could be said for or against the picture
+had been exhausted on the other side of the Atlantic, the picture
+was brought to this country and finally to the State of California.
+Here the discussion began all over again. There were those who were
+so impressed by the unpleasant character of the subject that they
+could not find words strong enough to express their horror. The Man
+with the Hoe was called "a monstrous thing distorted and
+soul-quenched," a "dread" and "terrible" shape, "a thing that
+grieves not and that never hopes," a "brother to the ox," and many
+other things which would have surprised and grieved Millet.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, any one to whom the pathos of the subject itself
+appeals so strongly can have little thought for the artistic
+qualities of the picture. So Edwin Markham, the writer of the poem
+from which these expressions are quoted, lets the subject lead him
+on into an impassioned protest against "the degradation of
+labor,&mdash;the oppression of man by man,"&mdash;all of which has
+nothing to do with the picture.</p>
+
+<p>Millet was not one to care at all for what he called "pretty"
+subjects, as we have already seen in studying the picture of the
+Milkmaid. "He felt that only by giving to his figures the
+expression and character which belonged to their condition could he
+obey the laws of beauty in art, for he knew that a work of art is
+beautiful only when it is homogeneous."<a name=
+'FNanchor_1_24'></a><a href='#Footnote_1_24'><sup>[1]</sup></a></p>
+
+<p>This was the theory which he put into practice in the Man with
+the Hoe, and one who understands well both his theories and his art
+sums up the great painting in these words: "The noble proportions
+of the figure alone would give this work a place among the greater
+artistic conceptions of all time, while the severe and simple
+pathos of this moment of respite in the interminable earth
+struggle, invests it with a sublimity which belongs to eternal
+things alone." <a name='FNanchor_2_25'></a><a href=
+'#Footnote_2_25'><sup>[2]</sup></a></p>
+
+<br>
+<br>
+ <a name='Footnote_1_24'></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_24'>[1]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>Pierre Millet in the <i>Century</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<a name='Footnote_2_25'></a><a href='#FNanchor_2_25'>[2]</a>
+<div class='note'>
+<p>Henry Naegely.</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr style='width: 65%;'>
+<a name='theportraitofmillet'></a>
+<h2>XVI</h2>
+
+<h3>THE PORTRAIT OF MILLET</h3>
+
+<br>
+
+
+<p>In studying the works of any great painter many questions
+naturally arise as to the personality of the man himself and the
+influences which shaped his life. Some such questions have already
+been answered as we have examined these fifteen pictures by Millet.
+Jean Fran&ccedil;ois Millet, we have learned, was of peasant
+parentage and spent the greater part of his life in the country.
+His pious Norman ancestors bequeathed him a rich heritage of strong
+and serious traits. From them, too, he drew that patience and
+perseverance which helped him to overcome so many obstacles in his
+career.</p>
+
+<p>In the surroundings of his childhood he saw no pictures and
+heard nothing of art or artists. Yet at a very early age he showed
+a remarkable talent for drawing. His artistic temperament was
+inherited from his father, who was a great lover of music and of
+everything beautiful. "Look," he sometimes said, plucking a blade
+of grass and showing it to his little boy, "how beautiful this is."
+His grandmother, too, had a true poetic vein in her nature. She
+would come to the child's bedside in the morning, calling, "Wake
+up, my little Fran&ccedil;ois, you don't know how long the birds
+have been singing the glory of God." In such a family the youth's
+gifts were readily recognized, and he was sent to Cherbourg, the
+nearest large town, to learn to be a painter. Here, and later in
+Paris, he received instruction from various artists, but his
+greatest teacher was Nature. So he turned from the schools of
+Paris, and the artificial standards of his fellow artists there, to
+study for himself, at first hand, the peasant life he wished to
+portray. What a delightful place Barbizon was for such work we have
+seen from some of his pictures.</p>
+
+<p>It was during the fruitful years of work at Barbizon that Millet
+made the crayon portrait of himself which is reproduced as our
+frontispiece. He was a large, strong, deep-chested man, somewhat
+above the medium height. An admirer has described him as "one of
+nature's noblemen," and his younger brother Pierre says he was
+"built like a Hercules." He had an inherent distaste for fine
+clothes which he showed even in boyhood. When he grew to be a
+painter, and returned to visit his family in Gr&eacute;ville, the
+villagers were scandalized to see the city artist appear in their
+streets in blouse and sabots.</p>
+
+<p>As we see in the portrait, Millet had long wavy hair, falling
+over his shoulders, and a thick black beard. His forehead was high
+and intelligent, and his nose delicately cut and sensitive. His
+eyes were gray-blue, of the kind which look a man through and
+through and which nothing escapes. The artist had so trained these
+wonderful eyes of his that he had only to turn them on a scene to
+photograph the impression indelibly on his memory.</p>
+
+<p>The face that we see in the portrait is that of a thinker, a
+poet, and an artist. It is the face of one who held intimate
+converse with the great poets of the ages, of one whose favorite
+books were the Bible, Virgil, Theocritus and Shakespeare. Though
+Millet had many genial traits in his nature, his expression here is
+profoundly serious. Such an expression tells much of the inner life
+of the man. His pictures were too original to be popular at once,
+and while he waited for purchasers he found it hard to support his
+family. His anxieties wore upon his health, and he was subject to
+frequent headaches of frightful severity. Nor was the struggle with
+poverty his only trial. He had to contend constantly against the
+misconceptions and misrepresentations of hostile critics.</p>
+
+<p>He was of too stern a nature and too loyal to his ideals to vary
+a hair's breadth from his course, yet criticism embittered him.
+"Give me signboards to paint, if you will," he exclaimed, "but at
+least let me think out my subjects in my own fashion and finish the
+work that I have to do, in peace."</p>
+
+<p>Like all who have great originality, Millet lived in a world of
+his own, and had but a few congenial friends. To such friends,
+however, and in the inner circle of his home, he opened his great
+and tender heart, and all who knew him loved him.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr class="full" noshade>
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JEAN FRANCOIS MILLET***</p>
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+</html>
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@@ -0,0 +1,2637 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Jean Francois Millet, by Estelle M. Hurll
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Jean Francois Millet
+
+Author: Estelle M. Hurll
+
+Release Date: August 5, 2004  [eBook #13119]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JEAN FRANCOIS MILLET***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Leah Moser, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 13119-h.htm or 13119-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/1/1/13119/13119-h/13119-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/1/1/13119/13119-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+JEAN FRANCOIS MILLET
+
+A Collection of Fifteen Pictures and a Portrait of the Painter,
+with Introduction and Interpretation
+
+by
+
+ESTELLE M. HURLL
+
+The Riverside Art Series
+
+1900
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: JEAN FRANCOIS MILLET]
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+In making a selection of Millet's pictures, devoted as they are to
+the single theme of French peasant life, variety of subject can be
+obtained only by showing as many phases of that life as possible.
+Our illustrations therefore represent both men and women working
+separately in the tasks peculiar to each, and working together in the
+labors shared between them. There are in addition a few pictures of
+child life.
+
+The selections include a study of the field, the dooryard, and
+the home interior, and range from the happiest to the most sombre
+subjects. They show also considerable variety in artistic motive and
+composition, and taken together fairly represent the scope of Millet's
+work.
+
+ESTELLE M. HURLL. NEW BEDFORD, MASS. March, 1900.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS AND LIST OF PICTURES
+
+
+PORTRAIT OF MILLET. DRAWN BY HIMSELF
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+     I.   ON MILLET'S CHARACTER AS AN ARTIST
+
+     II.  ON BOOKS OF REFERENCE
+
+     III. HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF THE PICTURES OF THIS COLLECTION
+
+     IV.  OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN MILLET'S LIFE
+
+     V.   SOME OF MILLET'S ASSOCIATES
+
+I.    GOING TO WORK
+
+II.   THE KNITTING LESSON
+
+III.  THE POTATO PLANTERS
+
+IV.   THE WOMAN SEWING BY LAMPLIGHT
+
+V.    THE SHEPHERDESS
+
+VI.   THE WOMAN FEEDING HENS
+
+VII.  THE ANGELUS
+
+VIII. FILLING THE WATER-BOTTLES
+
+IX.   FEEDING HER BIRDS
+
+X.    THE CHURCH AT GREVILLE
+
+XI.   THE SOWER
+
+XII.  THE GLEANERS
+
+XIII. THE MILKMAID
+
+XIV.  THE WOMAN CHURNING
+
+XV.   THE MAN WITH THE HOE
+
+XVI.  THE PORTRAIT OF MILLET
+
+PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY OF PROPER NAMES AND FOREIGN WORDS
+
+NOTE: All the pictures were made from carbon prints by Braun, Clement & Co.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+I. ON MILLET'S CHARACTER AS AN ARTIST
+
+
+The distinctive features of Millet's art are so marked that the most
+inexperienced observer easily identifies his work. As a painter of
+rustic subjects, he is unlike any other artists who have entered the
+same field, even those who have taken his own themes. We get at the
+heart of the matter when we say that Millet derived his art directly
+from nature. "If I could only do what I like," he said, "I would paint
+nothing that was not the result of an impression directly received
+from nature, whether in landscape or in figure." His pictures are
+convincing evidence that he acted upon this theory. They have a
+peculiar quality of genuineness beside which all other rustic art
+seems forced and artificial.
+
+The human side of life touched him most deeply, and in many of his
+earlier pictures, landscape was secondary. Gradually he grew into
+the larger conception of a perfect harmony between man and his
+environment. Henceforth landscape ceased to be a mere setting or
+background in a figure picture, and became an organic part of the
+composition. As a critic once wrote of the Shepherdess, "the earth
+and sky, the scene and the actors, all answer one another, all hold
+together, belong together." The description applies equally well to
+many other pictures and particularly to the Angelus, the Sower, and
+the Gleaners. In all these, landscape and figure are interdependent,
+fitting together in a perfect unity.
+
+As a painter of landscapes, Millet mastered a wide range of the
+effects of changing light during different hours of the day. The mists
+of early morning in Filling the Water-Bottles; the glare of noonday in
+the Gleaners; the sunset glow in the Angelus and the Shepherdess;
+the sombre twilight of the Sower; and the glimmering lamplight of
+the Woman Sewing, each found perfect interpretation. Though showing
+himself capable of representing powerfully the more violent aspects of
+nature, he preferred as a rule the normal and quiet.
+
+In figure painting Millet sought neither grace nor beauty, but
+expression. That he regarded neither of these first two qualities as
+intrinsically unworthy, we may infer from the grace of the Sower, and
+the naive beauty of the Shepherdess and the Woman Sewing. But that
+expression was of paramount interest to him we see clearly in the
+Angelus and the Man with the Hoe. The leading characteristic of his
+art is strength, and he distrusted the ordinary elements of prettiness
+as taking something from the total effect he wished to produce. "Let
+no one think that they can force me to prettify my types," he said. "I
+would rather do nothing than express myself feebly."
+
+It was always his first aim to make his people look as if they
+belonged to their station. The "mute inglorious Milton" and Maud
+Muller with her "nameless longings" had no place on his canvases. His
+was the genuine peasant of field and farm, no imaginary denizen of the
+poets' Arcady. "The beautiful is the fitting," was his final summary
+of aesthetic theory, and the theory was put into practice on every
+canvas.
+
+In point of composition Millet's pictures have great excellence. "I
+try not to have things look as if chance brought them together," he
+said, "but as if they had a necessary bond between them." So nothing
+is accidental, but every object, however small, is an indispensable
+part of the whole scheme.
+
+An important characteristic of his work is its power to suggest
+the third dimension of space. The figures have a solid, tangible
+appearance, as if actually alive. The Gleaners, the Woman Churning,
+and the Man with the Hoe are thoroughly convincing in their reality.
+
+The picture of the Gleaners especially has that so-called "quality of
+circumambient light" which circulates about the objects, so to speak,
+and gives them position in space. Millet's landscapes also have
+a depth of spaciousness which reaches into infinite distance. The
+principles of composition are applied in perspective as well as
+laterally. We can look into the picture, through it, and beyond it, as
+if we were standing in the presence of nature.
+
+Mr. Bernhard Berenson goes so far as to say that this art of "space
+composition," as he terms it, can "directly communicate religious
+emotion," and explains on this ground the devotional influence of
+Perugino's works, which show so remarkable a feeling for space.[1]
+If he is right, it is on this principle, rather than because of its
+subject, that the Angelus is, as it has sometimes been called, "one of
+the greatest religious paintings of the age."
+
+While Millet's art is, in its entirety, quite unique, there are
+certain interesting points of resemblance between his work and that of
+some older masters. He is akin to Rembrandt both in his indifference
+to beauty and in his intense love of human nature. Millet's
+indifference to beauty is the more remarkable because in this he stood
+alone in his day and generation, while in the northern art of the
+seventeenth century, of which Rembrandt is an exponent, beauty was
+never supreme.
+
+As a lover of human nature, Millet's sympathies, though no less
+intense than Rembrandt's, were less catholic. His range of observation
+was limited to peasant life, while the Dutch master painted all
+classes and conditions of men. Yet both alike were profound students
+of character and regarded expression as the chief element of beauty.
+Rembrandt, however, sought expression principally in the countenance,
+and Millet had a fuller understanding of the expressiveness of the
+entire body. The work of each thus complements that of the other.
+
+Millet's passion for figure expression was first worked out in
+painting the nude. When he abandoned such subjects for the homelier
+themes of labor, he gave no less attention to the study of form and
+attitude. The simple clothing of the peasant is cut so loosely as to
+give entire freedom of motion to the body, and it is worn so long
+that it shapes itself perfectly to the figure. The body thus clad
+is scarcely inferior to the nude in assuming the fine lines of an
+expressive pose.
+
+Millet's instinct for pose was that of a sculptor. Many of the
+figures for his pictures were first carefully modelled in wax or clay.
+Transferred to canvas they are drawn in the strong simple outlines of
+a statue. It is no extravagant flight of fancy which has likened him
+to Michelangelo. In the strength and seriousness of his conceptions,
+the bold sweep of his lines, and, above all, in the impression of
+motion which he conveys, he has much in common with the great Italian
+master. Like Michelangelo, Millet gives first preference to the
+dramatic moment when action is imminent. The Sower is in the act of
+casting the seed into the ground, as David is in the act of stretching
+his sling. As we look, we seem to see the hand complete its motion. So
+also the Gleaners, the Women Filling the Water-Bottles, and the Potato
+Planters are all portrayed in attitudes of performance.
+
+When Millet represents repose it is as an interval of suspended
+action, not as the end of completed work. The Shepherdess pauses but
+a moment in her walk and will immediately move on again. The man and
+woman of the Angelus rest only for the prayer and then resume their
+work. The Man with the Hoe snatches but a brief respite from his
+labors. The impression of power suggested by his figure, even in
+immobility, recalls Michelangelo's Jeremiah.
+
+To the qualities which are reminiscent of Michelangelo Millet adds
+another in which he is allied to the Greeks. This is his tendency
+towards generalization. It is the typical rather than the individual
+which he strives to present. "My dream," he once wrote, "is to
+characterize the type." So his figures, like those of Greek sculpture,
+reproduce no particular model, but are the general type deduced from
+the study of many individuals.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: In _Central Italian Painters of the Renaissance_.]
+
+
+
+
+II. ON BOOKS OF REFERENCE
+
+
+Since the death of Millet, in 1875, much that is interesting and
+valuable has been written of his life and work. The first biography
+of the painter was that by his friend Sensier, in a large illustrated
+volume whose contents have been made familiar to English readers by an
+abridged translation published in this country simultaneously with
+the issue of the French edition. Containing all the essential facts of
+Millet's outward life, besides a great number of the artist's letters,
+together with his autobiographical reminiscences of childhood,
+Sensier's work is the principal source of information, from which all
+later writers draw. Yet it is not an altogether fair and satisfactory
+presentation of Millet's life. Undue emphasis is laid upon his
+struggles with poverty, and the book leaves much to be desired.
+
+Julia Cartwright's recent work, "Jean Francois Millet: His Life and
+Letters," is founded on Sensier's life, yet rounds out the study of
+the master's character and work with the fuller knowledge with which
+family and friends have described his career.
+
+Another recent book called "J.F. Millet and Rustic Art" is by
+Henry Naegely (published in England), and is critical rather than
+biographical in purport. It is a sympathetic appreciation of Millet's
+art and character, and grows out of a careful study of the painter's
+works and an intimate connection with the Millet family.
+
+Besides these books devoted exclusively to the subject, the life work
+of Millet is admirably sketched in brief form in the following more
+general works:--
+
+Richard Muther's "History of Modern Painting," Mrs. Stranahan's
+"History of French Painting," Rose G. Kingsley's "History of French
+Art," and D.C. Thomson's "Barbizon School."
+
+Of great importance to the student of Millet are the various articles
+contributed to the magazines by those who knew and understood the
+painter. The following are of special note: By Edward W. Wheelwright,
+in "The Atlantic Monthly," September, 1876; by Wyatt Eaton, in the
+"Century," May, 1889; by T.H. Bartlett, in "Scribner's," May and June,
+1890; by Pierre Millet, in "Century," January, 1893, and April, 1894;
+and by Will Low, in "McClure's," May, 1896. Julia Cartwright, in the
+preface to the above mentioned biography, mentions other magazine
+articles not so generally accessible.
+
+
+
+
+III. HISTORICAL DIRECTORY OF THE PICTURES OF THIS COLLECTION
+
+
+_Portrait frontispiece_, a life-size crayon made by Millet in 1847
+and given to his friend Charlier. It afterwards became the property of
+Sensier..
+
+1. _Going to Work_, one of several versions of the subject in
+different mediums, oil, pastel, drawing, and etching. This picture was
+painted in 1851, and was at one time (1891) in a private collection in
+Glasgow.[1] It is to be distinguished from the picture of 1850, where
+the woman carries a pitcher instead of a rope.[2]
+
+2. _The Knitting Lesson_, a drawing corresponding in general
+composition, with some changes of detail, to the small painting (17 by
+14-1/2 in.) of the subject in the collection of Mrs. Martin Brimmer,
+in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
+
+3. _The Potato Planters_, painted in 1862, and exhibited at the
+great exhibition at Paris of that year, also again in 1867 at the
+International Exhibition. It changed hands for large sums during
+the painter's lifetime, and is now in the Quincy A. Shaw collection,
+Boston, Mass.
+
+4. _The Woman Sewing by Lamplight_, painted in 1872, and sold in 1873
+for 38,500 francs, the highest price at that time ever paid for one of
+Millet's works.
+
+5. _The Shepherdess_, painted in 1862, and exhibited at the Salon of
+1864, also again at the Exposition Universelle of 1867. It is now in
+the collection of M. Chauchard.
+
+6. _The Woman Feeding Hens_, a charcoal sketch, corresponding in
+general composition to the description of a painting bearing the same
+name, which was painted in 1854 for M. Letrone for 2000 francs.
+
+7. _The Angelus_, an oil painting measuring 25 by 21 in. The first
+drawing for the picture was sold February, 1858. The painting was
+completed for exhibition in the Salon of 1859. It was declined by the
+patron for whom it was intended, and finally sold to a Belgian artist
+in 1860, and soon afterwards to the Belgian minister. The original
+price was 2000 francs. The picture passed from one owner to another,
+and in 1873 was bought by J.W. Wilson for 50,000 francs, later
+bringing at the Wilson sale of 1881 the sum of L6400. In an auction
+sale of the Secretan collection, July, 1889, there was an immense
+excitement over the contest between the French government, represented
+by M. Proust, Director of Fine Arts, and various American dealers, who
+were determined to win the prize. It was finally knocked down to M.
+Proust for 553,000 francs, but the French government refused to ratify
+the purchase, and the picture was brought to the United States. Here
+the customs duty exacted was so enormous (L7000) that the picture
+remained only six months (the duty being waived during that period),
+and after being exhibited throughout the country finally returned to
+France, where it was purchased for L32,000 by M. Chauchard, who has
+the finest collection of Millets in existence.
+
+8. _Filling the Water-Bottles,_ a charcoal drawing, which attracted
+much attention when exhibited in the Millet collection of the Paris
+Exposition, 1889.
+
+9. _Feeding Her Birds_, painted in 1860, and exhibited in Salon of
+1861. Presented by a purchaser to the Museum of Lille in 1871.
+
+10. _The Church at Greville_, sketched during Millet's visit at
+Greville in the summer of 1871; referred to by him, in a letter of
+1872, as still in process of painting; found in his studio at the
+time of his death, in 1875. The picture was bought by the French
+government, and is now in the Louvre, Paris.
+
+11. _The Sower_, the second painting of the subject, painted in 1850,
+and exhibited in the Salon of 1850-51. It is now in the Vanderbilt
+collection, New York.
+
+A pencil sketch of the Sower is in the collection of Millet's
+drawings, at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.[3]
+
+12. _The Gleaners_, a painting first exhibited at the Salon of 1867.
+It was sold to M. Binder of l'Isle Adam for 2000 francs. In 1889 it
+was purchased by Madame Pommeroy for 300,000 francs, and presented
+to the Louvre, Paris. A pencil drawing of the three figures is in the
+collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
+
+13. _The Milkmaid_, painted in 1871 from a sketch made in Greville.
+Seen in Millet's studio in 1873 by Will Low, the American artist.
+
+14. _The Woman Churning_, one of several versions of the subject, the
+first of which appeared in 1870.
+
+15. _The Man with the Hoe_, painted in 1862 and exhibited at the Salon
+of 1863. Sold to a Belgian collector, and long in Brussels. It is now
+owned by Mr. W.S. Crocker of San Francisco, Cal.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: See D.C. Thomson's _Barbizon School_, pp. 226, 227.]
+
+[Footnote 2: See Julia Cartwright, _Life and Letters of Jean Francois
+Millet_, pp. 114,115.]
+
+[Footnote 3: This is one of an interesting collection of drawings in
+this museum, which also contains several original paintings by Millet,
+a Shepherdess, seated, a portrait of the painter, and others. Other
+fine Millets are in the private collections of Boston, where the
+painter received early appreciation, owing to the enthusiasm of
+William Morris Hunt, the painter, and such connoisseurs as Mr. Quincy
+Shaw and Mr. Brimmer.]
+
+
+
+
+IV. OUTLINE TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN MILLET'S LIFE
+
+
+1814.  Millet born, October 4, in hamlet of Gruchy, commune of Greville, in
+        the old province of Normandy, France.
+
+1832.  Two months' study with Mouchel in Cherbourg.
+           Death of Millet's father.
+           Study with Langlois in Cherbourg.
+
+1837.  Removal to Paris, supported by annuity of 400 francs from the
+        municipality of Cherbourg.[1]
+
+1837-1839 (?). Studies with Delaroche.[2]
+
+1840.  A portrait of M.L.F. exhibited at Salon of the Louvre.
+
+1841.  Portrait of Mademoiselle Antoinette Feuardent.
+           Marriage with Mademoiselle Pauline Virginie Ono in Cherbourg.
+
+1842.  Returned to Paris.
+
+1844.  Millet exhibited at Salon: the Milkmaid, the Riding Lesson.
+           Death of Millet's wife, April 21, and Millet's return home for
+            18 months.
+
+1845.  Marriage with Catherine Lemaire late in summer, in Greville.
+           Visit in Havre in November.
+           Arrival in Paris in December, and residence in the rue
+            Rochehouart.
+
+1847.  Oedipus taken from the Tree exhibited at the Salon.
+
+1848.  Millet exhibited at the Salon the Winnower, bought by M.
+        Ledru-Rollin for 500 francs, and the Captivity of the Jews in
+        Babylon.
+
+1849.  Removal to Barbizon.
+
+1850.  The Sower painted and exhibited at the Salon with the Sheaf Binders.
+
+1851.  Death of Millet's grandmother, Louise Jumelin, at Gruchy.
+
+1853.  Death of Millet's mother at Gruchy.
+           Millet exhibited at the Salon:--
+             Ruth and Boaz, bought by an American.
+             The Sheep Shearer,} bought by William Morris
+             The Shepherd,     } Hunt.
+
+1854.  Visit four months to the surroundings of the old home in Normandy.
+
+1855.  The Grafter, exhibited at the Salon.
+
+1856.  Le Pare aux Moutons painted.
+
+1857.  The Gleaners exhibited at the Salon.
+
+1859.  The Angelus exhibited at the Salon.
+
+1860-1861. The Shepherd in the Fold by Moonlight, and the Femme aux Seaux.
+
+1861.  The Potato Planters painted.
+           Millet exhibited at the Salon of the Champs Elysees:
+             Feeding Her Birds.
+             Waiting.
+             The Sheep Shearer.
+
+1862.  List of pictures painted:--
+             Winter.
+             The Crows.
+             Sheep Feeding.
+             The Wool Carder.
+             The Stag.
+             The Birth of the Calf.
+             The Shepherdess.
+             The Man with the Hoe.
+
+1863.  Millet sent to Salon: Man with the Hoe, The Wool Carder (see list of
+        works in 1862), and a Shepherd bringing Home his Sheep.
+
+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
+circumstances are detailed.]
+
+
+
+
+V. SOME OF MILLET'S ASSOCIATES
+
+
+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. Babcock, 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 illustrating 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 fashioned.
+
+In France the farm labors are shared by men and women alike. The
+peasant woman is sturdily 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 coarse,
+but which is perfectly suited for the purpose. The French peasants'
+working clothes are usually of strong homespun cloth, fashioned 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.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clement & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. GOING TO WORK]
+
+The men wear soft felt hats, the brim of which can be pulled forward
+to shade the eyes. The women cover their heads neatly with caps or
+kerchiefs, and are nearly always seen with aprons. Men and women both
+wear the heavy wooden shoes called _sabots_, in which the feet suffer
+no pressure as from leather shoes, and are protected against the
+moisture of the ground.
+
+The peasants of our picture carry all they need for the day's work.
+A three-pronged fork rests across the man's shoulder, and a wallet of
+lunch hangs from his left arm. The woman has a basket, a linen sack,
+and a bit of rope. Evidently something is to be brought home. Just now
+she has swung the empty basket up over her shoulders and it covers her
+head like a huge sunbonnet.
+
+The two young people are full of the healthy vigor which makes work
+a pleasure. They go cheerfully to their day's task as if they really
+enjoyed it. We cannot help suspecting that they are lovers. The man
+carries himself erect with a conscious air of manliness, and steps
+briskly, with his hand thrust into his pocket. The girl hides her
+shyness in the shadow of the basket as she turns her face towards
+his. The two swing along buoyantly, keeping step as if accustomed to
+walking together.
+
+At the close of the day's work the basket and sack will be filled, and
+the laborers will return to their home by the same way. The burden may
+be heavy, but they will bear it as the reward of their toil.
+
+The picture of Going to Work was painted at about the same time[1]
+as the The Sower, which forms one of the later illustrations of our
+collection. A comparison of the pictures will show interesting points
+of resemblance between the two men striding down hill. Though Going to
+Work is not as a work of art of equal rank with The Sower, we get in
+both pictures a delightful sense of motion which makes the figures
+seem actually alive.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: That is, within a year. See dates in the _Historical
+Directory_.]
+
+
+
+
+II
+
+THE KNITTING LESSON
+
+
+In the picture we have been examining we have seen something of the
+outdoor life of the French peasants, and now we are shown the interior
+of one of their houses, where a Knitting Lesson is being given. The
+girls of the French peasantry are taught only the plainest kinds of
+needlework. They have to begin to make themselves useful very early in
+life, and knitting is a matter of special importance. In these large
+families many pairs of stockings are needed, and all must be homemade.
+This is work which the little girls can do while the mother is busy
+with heavier labors. The knitting work becomes a girl's constant
+companion, and there are few moments when her hands are idle.
+
+The little girl in our picture is still a beginner in the art, and the
+lesson is a very exciting occasion to her. Already she feels like a
+woman.
+
+The mother and daughter have their chairs by the window to get a good
+light on the work. It is a large and beautiful casement window, of the
+kind almost universal in France, opening lengthwise in the middle in
+two parts which swing on hinges like doors. The window seat serves as
+a table, to hold the basket and scissors. The doll is thrust into the
+corner; our little girl has "put away childish things"--at least for
+the moment,--and takes her task very seriously.
+
+The two chairs are drawn close together, the one a small counterpart
+of the other. The child braces her feet firmly on one of the rounds
+and bends her whole mind to her work. Both mother and daughter wear
+close white caps, though the little girl's is of a more childish
+pattern and does not cover her pretty hair in front.
+
+The mother has been sewing on some large garment which lies across
+her lap. She lets the little girl work by herself for a time, and then
+stops to set her right. Already a considerable length of stocking
+has been made, but this is a place where close attention is needed.
+Perhaps it is time to begin shaping the heel. The mother's work
+is left altogether for a moment. Putting her arm about the child's
+shoulder, she takes the two little hands in hers, and guides the
+fingers holding the needles.
+
+We get some idea of the quaint style of the building from this glimpse
+of the living-room. Probably it is a low stone cottage with thatched
+or tiled roof. The deep window seat shows how thick the walls are.
+Overhead we see the oak rafters.
+
+The room looks spotlessly clean, as a good housewife's should. Though
+we see only a corner, that corner holds the most precious household
+possession, the linen chest. It stands against the wall, and is of
+generous size. French country people take great pride in storing up a
+quantity of linen; tablecloths, sheets, shirts, pillowcases, often
+of their own weaving, are piled in the deep clothes-presses. In
+well-to-do families there are enough for six months' use, the family
+washing taking place only twice a year, in spring and fall, like
+house-cleaning in America. We judge that our housekeeper is well
+provided, by the pile of neatly folded sheets on the press. The little
+clock, high on the wall, and the vase of flowers on the chest are
+the only touches of ornament in the room. On the wall are some small
+objects which look like shuttles for weaving.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clement & Co John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE KNITTING LESSON]
+
+As we look at the picture we feel sure that Millet was a lover of
+children, and it is pleasant to know that he had many of his own. The
+artist father was his children's favorite playmate, and at the close
+of his day's work in his studio, they ran to meet him with shouts of
+joy. He used to like to walk about the garden with them showing them
+the flowers. In winter time they sat together by the fire, and the
+father sang songs and drew pictures for the little ones. Sometimes
+taking a log from the wood basket he would carve a doll out of it, and
+paint the cheeks with vermilion. This is the sort of doll we see on
+the window seat in our picture.
+
+Ruskin tells us that a true artist feels like a caged bird in painting
+any enclosed space, unless it contains some opening like a door or
+window. No amount of beauty will content us, he says, if we are shut
+in to that alone. Our picture is a good proof of this principle. We
+can easily fancy how different the effect would be without the window:
+the room would appear almost like a prisoner's cell. As it is, the
+great window suggests the out-of-door world into which it opens, and
+gives us a sense of larger space.
+
+Our illustration is taken from a drawing. Millet was a painstaking
+artist who made many drawings and studies for his paintings. This is
+probably such a study, as there is also a painting by him of the same
+subject very similar to this.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+THE POTATO PLANTERS
+
+
+In the picture called The Potato Planters we are reminded at once
+of the peasants we have already seen in Going to Work. We see here
+married people a few years older than the young people of the other
+picture working together in the fields.
+
+It may be that this is their own little plot of ground, for they work
+with a certain air of proprietorship. They look prosperous, too, and
+are somewhat better dressed than common laborers. It is the highest
+ambition of the French peasant to own a bit of land. He will make any
+sacrifice to get it, and possessing it, is well content. He labors
+with constant industry to make it yield well.
+
+The field here is at quite a distance from the village where the
+workers live. We can see the little group of houses on the horizon. In
+France the agricultural classes do not build their dwelling-houses on
+their farms, but live instead in village communities, with the
+farms in the outlying districts. The custom has many advantages. The
+families may help one another in various ways both by joining forces
+and exchanging services. They may also share in common the use of
+church, school, and post office. This French farming system has been
+adopted in Canada, while in our own country we follow the English
+custom of building isolated farmhouses.
+
+In working season the French farmer must go daily to his labor at
+a distance. The people in our picture are fortunate enough to own
+a donkey which is their burden-bearer between house and field. The
+strong little creature can carry a heavy load properly disposed in
+pannier baskets. The panniers are made very deep and wide, but rather
+flat, so as to fit the sides of the donkey. With one of these hanging
+on each side of the saddle, the weight of the burden is so well
+distributed that it is easily borne.
+
+The donkey of our picture has been relieved of his panniers, and now
+rests in the shade of some apple-trees. One of the baskets is in the
+mean time put to a novel use. Made soft and warm with a heavy cloak,
+it forms a nice cradle for the baby. The babies in French peasant
+families are often left at home with the grandmother, while the mother
+goes out to field work. The painter Millet himself was in childhood
+the special charge of his grandmother, while his mother labored on the
+farm. The people of our picture have another and, as it seems, a much
+pleasanter plan, in going to the field as a family party.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clement & Co John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE POTATO PLANTERS]
+
+The day is well advanced and the work goes steadily on. It is potato
+planting, and the potato crop is of great importance to country
+people, second perhaps to the wheat, as it supplies food to both man
+and beast. The commoner varieties, as the large white, are raised for
+cattle, and the finer and sweeter kinds, the red and the yellow, are
+kept for the table.
+
+The laborer and his wife move along the field, facing each other on
+opposite sides of the row they are planting. The man turns the sod
+with his hoe, a short-handled tool which long practice has taught him
+to use skilfully. The wife carries the potato seed in her apron, and
+as her husband lifts each spadeful of earth, she throws the seed into
+the hole thus made. He holds the hoe suspended a moment while the seed
+drops in, and then replaces the earth over it. The two work in perfect
+unison, each following the other's motion with mechanical regularity,
+as they move down the field together.
+
+The two who work so well together in the field are sure to work well
+together in the home. The man has the serious, capable look of a
+provident husband. The woman looks like a good housewife. That shapely
+hand throwing the seed so deftly into the ground is well adapted to
+domestic tasks.
+
+We may easily identify our picture as a familiar scene in Millet's
+Barbizon surroundings. We are told that "upon all sides of Barbizon,
+save one, the plain stretches almost literally as far as the eye can
+reach," and presents "a generally level and open surface." "There are
+no isolated farmhouses, and no stone walls, fences, or hedges,
+except immediately around the villages; and were it not all under
+cultivation, the plain might be taken for a vast common."[1]
+
+It is evident, then, that we here see the plain of Barbizon and true
+Barbizon peasants of Millet's day. The villagers of the painter's
+acquaintance were on the whole a prosperous class, nearly all owning
+their houses and a few acres of ground. The big apple-tree under which
+the donkey rests is just such an one as grew in Millet's own little
+garden.
+
+Fruit trees were his peculiar delight. He knew all their ways,
+and "all their special twists and turnings;" how the leaves of the
+apple-tree are bunched together on their twigs, and how the roots
+spread under ground. "Any artist," he used to say, "can go to the East
+and paint a palm-tree, but very few can paint an apple-tree."
+
+
+[Footnote 1: From Edward Wheelwright's _Recollections of Jean Francois
+Millet,_ in _Atlantic Monthly_, September, 1876.]
+
+
+
+
+IV
+
+THE WOMAN SEWING BY LAMPLIGHT
+
+
+Though the peasant women of France have so large a share in the
+laborious out-of-door work on the farms, they are not unfitted for
+domestic duties. In the long winter evenings they devote themselves
+to more distinctly woman's tasks, knitting and sewing, sometimes even
+spinning and weaving. Their housekeeping is very simple, for they live
+frugally, but they know how to make the home comfortable. Many modern
+inventions are still unknown to them, and we should think their
+customs very primitive, but on this account they are perhaps even more
+picturesque.
+
+There is contentment in every line of the face of this Woman Sewing by
+Lamplight. It is the face of a happy young wife and mother. She
+sits close by her baby's bedside that she may listen to his gentle
+breathing as he sleeps, and she smiles softly to herself while she
+sews. It is a sweet face which bends over the work, and it is framed
+in the daintiest of white caps edged with a wide ruffle which is
+turned back over the hair above the forehead, that it may not shade
+her eyes.
+
+The garment that lies on her lap is of some coarse heavy material. No
+dainty bit of fancy work is this, but a plain piece of mending. It
+may be the long cloak which the shepherd wraps about him in cold and
+stormy weather. Made from the wool grown on his own sheep, spun by his
+wife's own hand, it is unrivalled among manufactured cloths for warmth
+and comfort. The needle is threaded with a coarse thread of wool,
+which the sewer draws deftly through the cloth.
+
+On a pole which runs from floor to ceiling is a hook, from which a
+lamp is suspended by a chain. This lamp appears to be a boat-shaped
+vessel with the wick coming out at one end. The light gilds the
+mother's gentle profile with shining radiance; it illumines the
+fingers of her right hand, and gleams on the coarse garment in her
+lap, transforming it into a cloth of gold.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clement & Co. THE WOMAN
+SEWING BY LAMPLIGHT John Andrew & Son, Sc.]
+
+The baby meanwhile lies on the other side of the lamp in the shadow.
+His little mouth is open, and he is fast asleep. We can almost fancy
+that the mother croons a lullaby as she sews. There is a pathetic
+little French song called La Petite Helene, which Millet's mother used
+to sing to him, and which he in turn taught his own children. Perhaps
+we could not understand the words if we could hear it. But when
+mothers sing to their babies, whatever the tongue in which they speak,
+they use a common language of motherhood. Some such simple little
+lullaby as this, which mothers of another land sing to their babes,
+would doubtless interpret this mother's thoughts:--
+
+  "Sleep, baby, sleep!
+  Thy father watches the sheep;
+  Thy mother is shaking the dreamland tree,
+  And down comes a little dream on thee.
+  Sleep, baby, sleep!
+
+  "Sleep, baby, sleep!
+  The large stars are the sheep;
+  The little ones are the lambs, I guess:
+  The gentle moon is the shepherdess,
+  Sleep, baby, sleep!
+
+  "Sleep, baby, sleep!
+  Our Saviour loves his sheep;
+  He is the Lamb of God on high
+  Who for our sakes came down to die.
+  Sleep, baby, sleep!"
+
+When we remember that the ancient Romans had lamps constructed
+somewhat like that in the picture, it seems strange that so rude a
+contrivance should be in use in the nineteenth century. But this is
+only the practical and prosaic side of the question. For artistic
+purposes the lamp is just what is wanted in the composition.
+
+You can see how a lamp with a glass chimney and shade would spoil the
+whole effect. We should lose that strange beautiful halo surrounding
+the wick, and the light would fall only on the work, instead of
+glorifying the face of the mother. These wonderful impressions of
+light add much to the artistic beauty of the picture, and explain why
+artists have so greatly admired it.
+
+The picture naturally recalls that other Mother and Babe, Mary of
+Nazareth and the holy Child Jesus, who for so many centuries have
+inspired the imagination of artists. Often a painter has drawn his
+first conception for this sacred subject from some peasant mother and
+child such as these.
+
+In order to give religious significance to their pictures, artists
+have tried in many ways to suggest the supernatural. They have
+introduced halos about the heads of Mary and Jesus, and have made
+the light seem to shine mysteriously from the child's body. Now our
+painter Millet, representing only an ordinary mother and babe, has
+not used any such methods. Nevertheless, without going beyond strict
+reality, he has produced a mystical effect of light which makes this
+picture worthy of a place among the Madonnas. The glow of the lamp
+transforms the familiar scene into a shrine of mother's love.
+
+
+
+
+V
+
+THE SHEPHERDESS
+
+
+Many years ago the early English poet, Sir Philip Sidney, wrote a book
+about an imaginary country called Arcadia, noted for the sweetness
+of the air and the gentle manners of the people. As he described the
+beauties of the scenery there, he told of "meadows enamelled with all
+sorts of eye-pleasing flowers; each pasture stored with sheep feeding
+with sober security; here a shepherd's boy piping as though he should
+never be old; there a young shepherdess knitting and withal singing,
+and it seemed that her voice comforted her hands to work, and her
+hands kept time to her voice-music."
+
+We could easily fancy that our picture of the Shepherdess was meant
+to illustrate a scene in Arcadia. Here is the meadow "enamelled with
+eye-pleasing flowers," the sheep "feeding with sober security," and
+the young shepherdess herself knitting. Though she is not singing with
+her lips, her heart sings softly as she knits, and her hands keep time
+to the dream-music.
+
+Early in the morning she led her flock out to the fallow pastures
+which make good grazing ground. All day long the sheep have nibbled
+the green herbage at their own sweet will, always under the watchful
+eye of their gentle guardian. Her hands have been busy all the time.
+Like patient Griselda in Chaucer's poem, who did her spinning while
+she watched her sheep, "she would not have been idle till she slept."
+Ever since she learned at her mother's knee those early lessons in
+knitting, she has kept the needles flying. She can knit perfectly well
+now while she follows her flock about. The work almost knits itself
+while her eyes and thoughts are engaged in other occupations.
+
+The little shepherdess has an assistant too, who shares the
+responsibilities of her task. He is a small black dog, "patient and
+full of importance and grand in the pride of his instinct."[1] When a
+sheep is tempted by an enticing bit of green in the distance to stray
+from its companions, the dog quickly bounds after the runaway and
+drives it back to the flock. Only the voice of the shepherdess is
+needed to send him hither, thither, and yon on such errands.
+
+Now nightfall comes, and it is time to lead the flock home to the
+sheepfold. The sheep are gathered into a compact mass, the ram in
+their midst. The shepherdess leads the way, and the dog remains at
+the rear, "walking from side to side with a lordly air," to allow no
+wanderer to escape.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clement & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE SHEPHERDESS]
+
+Their way lies across the plain whose level stretch is unbroken by
+fences or buildings. In the distance men may be seen loading a wagon
+with hay. The sheep still keep on nibbling as they go, and their
+progress is slow. The shepherdess takes time to stop and rest now and
+then, propping her staff in front of her while she picks up a stitch
+dropped in her knitting. There is a sense of perfect stillness in the
+air, that calm silence of the fields, which Millet once said was the
+gayest thing he knew in nature.
+
+The chill of nightfall is beginning to be felt, and the shepherdess
+wears a hood and cape. Her face shows her to be a dreamer. These
+long days in the open air give her many visions to dream of. Her
+companionship with dumb creatures makes her more thoughtful, perhaps,
+than many girls of her age.
+
+As a good shepherdess she knows her sheep well enough to call them all
+by name. From their soft wool was woven her warm cape and hood, and
+there is a genuine friendship between flock and mistress. When she
+goes before them, they follow her, for they know her voice.
+
+Among the traditions dear to the hearts of the French people is one of
+a saintly young shepherdess of Nanterre, known as Ste. Genevieve. Like
+the shepherdess of our picture, she was a dreamer, and her strange
+visions and wonderful sanctity set her apart from childhood for a
+great destiny. She grew up to be the saviour of Paris, and to-day her
+name is honored in a fine church dedicated to her memory. It was the
+crowning honor of Millet's life that he was commissioned to paint on
+the walls of this church scenes from the life of Ste. Genevieve. He
+did not live to do the work, but one cannot help believing that his
+ideals of the maiden of Nanterre must have taken some such shape as
+this picture of the Shepherdess.
+
+In the painting from which our illustration is reproduced, the colors
+are rich and glowing. The girl's dress is blue and her cap a bright
+red. The light shining on her cloak turns it a rich golden brown.
+Earth and sky are glorified by the beautiful sunset light.
+
+As we look across the plain, the earth seems to stretch away on every
+side into infinite distance. We are carried out of ourselves into the
+boundless liberty of God's great world. "The still small voice of the
+level twilight" speaks to us out of the "calm and luminous distance."
+
+Ruskin has sought to explain the strange attractive power which
+luminous space has for us. "There is one thing that it has, or
+suggests," he says, "which no other object of sight suggests in equal
+degree, and that is,--Infinity. It is of all visible things the least
+material, the least finite, the farthest withdrawn from the earth
+prison-house, the most typical of the nature of God, the most
+suggestive of the glory of his dwelling place."[2]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Like the watchdog described in Longfellow's _Evangeline_,
+Part II.]
+
+[Footnote 2: In _Modern Painters_, in chapter on "Infinity," from
+which also the other quotations are drawn.]
+
+
+
+
+VI
+
+THE WOMAN FEEDING HENS
+
+
+In walking through a French village, we get as little idea of the home
+life of the people as if we were in a large town or city. The houses
+usually border directly upon the street, and the spaces between are
+closed with high walls, shutting in the thoroughfare as completely as
+in a city "block." Behind these barriers each family carries on its
+domestic affairs in the privacy of its own domain. The _cour_, or
+dooryard, is the enclosure adjoining the house, and is surrounded on
+all sides by buildings or walls. Beyond this the more prosperous have
+also a garden or orchard, likewise surrounded by high walls.
+
+In the dooryard are performed many of the duties both of the barn and
+the house. Here the cows are milked, the horses groomed, the sheep
+sheared, and the poultry fed. Here, too, is the children's playground,
+safe from the dangers of the street, and within hearing of the
+mother's voice.
+
+It is into such a dooryard that we seem to be looking in this picture
+of The Woman Feeding Hens. It is a common enough little house which
+we see, built of stone, plastered over, in the fashion of the French
+provinces, and very low. In the long wall from the door to the garden
+gate is only one small high window. But time and nature have done much
+to beautify the spot. In the cracks of the roof, thatched or tiled,
+whichever it may be, many a vagrant seed has found lodgment. The weeds
+have grown up in profusion to cover the bare little place with
+leaf and flower. Indeed, there is here a genuine roof garden of the
+prettiest sort, and it extends along the stone wall separating the
+dooryard from the garden. Some one who has seen these vine-fringed
+walls in Barbizon describes them as gay with "purple orris, stonecrop,
+and pellitory."
+
+A young wife presides in the little cottage home and rules her side
+of the dooryard with gentle sway. She has a curly-haired baby boy who
+creeps after her as she goes about her work. His inquiring mind is at
+this age investigating all the corners of the house, and before long
+he will be the young master of the dooryard.
+
+The housewife boasts a small brood of hens. Early in the morning the
+voice of the chanticleer is heard greeting the dawn. Presently
+he leads his family forth to begin their day's scratching in the
+dooryard. Here and there they wander with contented clucks, as they
+find now and then a worm or grub for a titbit. But it is only a poor
+living which is to be earned by scratching. The thrifty housewife sees
+to it that her brood are well fed. At regular times she comes out of
+the house to feed them with grain, as she is doing now.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clement & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE WOMAN FEEDING HENS]
+
+The baby hears the mother's voice saying, in what is the French
+equivalent, "Here chick-chick-chick," and creeps swiftly to the door.
+He, too, tries to call "chick-chick." He watches the odd creatures
+eagerly as they gobble up the seed. They stand about in a circle,
+heads all together in the centre, bobbing up and down as long as any
+food remains. Chanticleer holds back with true gallantry, and with an
+air of masculine superiority. The belated members of the brood come
+running up as fast as they can. The apron holds a generous supply, so
+that there is enough for all, but the housewife doles it out prudently
+by the handful, that none may suffer through the greediness of the
+others.
+
+As we study the lines of the picture a little, they teach us some
+important lessons in composition. We note first the series of
+perpendicular lines at regular intervals across the width of the
+picture. These counterbalance the effect of the long perspective which
+is so skilfully indicated in the drawing of the house and the garden
+walk. The perspective is secured chiefly by three converging lines,
+the roof and ground lines of the house, and the line of the garden
+walk. These lines if extended would meet at a single point.
+
+Once more let us recall Ruskin's teaching in regard to enclosed
+spaces.[1] The artist is unhappy if shut in by impenetrable barriers.
+There must always be, he says, some way of escape, it matters not by
+how narrow a path, so that the imagination may have its liberty.
+
+This is the principle which our painter has applied in his picture.
+He wisely gives us a glimpse of the sky above, and shows us the shady
+vista of the garden walk leading to the great world beyond.
+
+Our illustration is from a charcoal drawing, which, like the Knitting
+Lesson, is matched by a corresponding painting.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: In _Modern Painters_ in the chapter on "Infinity."]
+
+
+
+
+VII
+
+THE ANGELUS
+
+
+The early twilight of autumn has overtaken two peasants at the close
+of a day's work in the field. They are gathering the potato harvest.
+The dried plants are first pulled up, and the potatoes carefully dug
+out of the holes. Then the vegetables are taken from the furrows by
+the basketful, and poured into brown linen sacks to be carried home
+on the wheelbarrow. One of these sacks is not yet quite full, and the
+work has been prolonged after sunset.
+
+The field is a long way from the village, but in the still air sounds
+are carried far across the plain. Suddenly the bell of the village
+church peals forth. The man stops digging and plunges his fork into
+the earth, and the woman hastily rises from her stooping posture. The
+Angelus bell is ringing, and it calls them to prayer.
+
+Three times each day, at sunrise, midday, and sunset, this bell
+reminds the world of the birth of Jesus Christ. The strokes are rung
+in three groups, corresponding to the three parts of The Angelus,
+which are recited in turn. The first word gives the bell its
+name,--Angelus, the Latin for angel.
+
+  "The angel of the Lord announced to Mary,
+  And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
+
+  "Behold the handmaid of the Lord,
+  Be it done unto me according to thy word.
+
+  "And the word was made flesh
+  And dwelt among us."
+
+Thus run the words of the translation in the three couplets into which
+they are separated, and then this prayer is added: "We beseech thee, O
+Lord, pour forth thy grace into our hearts; that as we have known the
+incarnation of thy Son Jesus Christ by the message of an angel, so
+by his cross and passion we may be brought into the glory of his
+resurrection, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord."
+
+Besides this, after each couplet of the Angelus, is recited that
+short hymn of praise, beginning with the words which the angel of the
+annunciation addressed to Mary,[1] "Ave Maria." This is why the hour
+after sunset is so often called the hour of Ave Maria. The English
+poet Byron has written of this solemn moment:--
+
+  "Ave Maria! blessed be the hour!
+  The time, the clime, the spot, where I so oft
+  Have felt that moment in its fullest power
+  Sink o'er the earth so beautiful and soft,
+  While swung the deep bell in the distant tower,
+  Or the faint dying day-hymn stole aloft,
+  And not a breath crept through the rosy air,
+  And yet the forest leaves seemed stirred with prayer."
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clement & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE ANGELUS]
+
+The atmosphere of prayer pervades the picture. The woman stands with
+bowed head and hands clasped over her breast. Her whole body sways
+slightly forward in the intensity of her devotion. Her husband has
+bared his head and holds his hat before him. Though he may seem
+somewhat awkward, he is not less sincerely reverent.
+
+The sunset light shines on the woman's blue apron, gilds the potato
+sacks in the wheelbarrow, and gleams along the furrows. Farther away,
+the withered plants are heaped in rows of little piles. Beyond, the
+level plain stretches to meet the glowing sky, and, outlined on the
+horizon, is the spire of the church where the bells are ringing.
+
+As the meaning of the picture grows upon us, we can almost hear the
+ringing of the bells. Indeed, to those familiar with such scenes in
+actual life, the impression is very vivid. The friend to whom Millet
+first showed his painting immediately exclaimed, "It is the Angelus."
+"Then you can hear the bells," said the artist, and was content.
+
+The solemn influence of the picture is deepened by the effects of the
+twilight on the plains. A wide outlook across a level country, like
+a view of the sea, is always impressive, but it has peculiar power
+in the vague light which follows the sunset. Many poetic natures have
+felt this mystic spell of the gloaming as it descends upon the plain.
+Robert Louis Stevenson was one of these, and upon visiting Barbizon he
+described vividly his feelings at such an hour. We are told also
+that Millet loved to walk abroad at nightfall and note the mysterious
+effects of the twilight. "It is astonishing," he once said to his
+brother in such a walk, "how grand everything on the plain appears,
+towards the approach of night, especially when we see the figures
+thrown out against the sky. Then they look like giants."
+
+In nearly all of Millet's pictures people are busy doing something.
+Either hands or feet, and sometimes both hands and feet, are in
+motion. They are pictures of action. In the Angelus, however, people
+are resting from labor; it is a picture of repose. The busy hands
+cease their work a moment, and the spirit rises in prayer. We have
+already seen, in other pictures, how labor may be lightened by love.
+Here we see labor glorified by piety.
+
+The painting of the Angelus has had a remarkable history. The patron
+for whom it was first intended was disappointed with the picture when
+finished, and Millet had no little difficulty in finding a purchaser.
+In the course of time it became one of the most popular works of the
+painter, and is probably better known in our country than any other of
+his pictures. In 1889 it was bought by an American, and was carried
+on an exhibition tour through most of the large cities of the
+United States. Finally it returned to France, where it is now in the
+collection of M. Chauchard.
+
+The Angelus is one of the few of Millet's works which have changed
+with time. The color has grown dark and the canvas has cracked
+somewhat, owing to the use of bitumen in the painting.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: "Hail Mary"; see St. Luke, chapter i., verse 28.]
+
+
+
+
+VIII
+
+FILLING THE WATER-BOTTLES
+
+
+The artist Millet loved to draw as well as to paint. Black and white
+pictures had their charm for him as truly as those in color. Indeed,
+he once said that "tone," which is the most important part of color,
+can be perfectly expressed in black and white. It is therefore not
+strange that he made many drawings. Some of these, like the Knitting
+Lesson and the Woman Feeding Hens, were, as we have seen, studies for
+paintings. The picture called Filling the Water-Bottles was, on the
+other hand, a charcoal drawing, corresponding to no similar painting.
+It is in itself a finished work of art.
+
+It is a typical French river scene which we see here, and it gives
+us an idea how large a part a river may take in the life of French
+country people. Sometimes it is the sole source of water for a
+village. Then it is not only the common village laundry, in which all
+clothing is washed, but it is also the great village fountain, from
+which all drinking-water is drawn.
+
+The women in our picture have come to the bank with big earthen jars
+to fill. It is in the cool of early morning, and the mist still lies
+thick over the marshes bordering the river. The sun, seen through the
+mist, looks like a round ball. On the farther bank, where a group of
+poplars grow, some horsemen ride up to ford the stream. They, too, are
+setting forth early on their day's work. One is already half across.
+
+The women have picked out, along the marshy bank, a point of land
+jutting into the river like a miniature promontory, and seemingly of
+firm soil. It is only large enough to hold one at a time, so they take
+turns. One is now filling a bottle, while the other waits, standing
+beside two jars.
+
+The first woman kneels on the ground, and supporting herself firmly
+by placing one hand on the edge of the bank, she grasps the jar by
+the handle, with her free right hand, and swings it well out over the
+water. Experience has taught her the most scientific way of filling
+the jar with least muscular strain. She does not try to plunge it down
+into the water, but holding it on its side, slightly tipped, draws it
+along with the mouth half under the surface, sucking in the water as
+it moves. We see what hard, firm muscles she has to hold the arm out
+so tensely. Her arm acts like a compass describing the arc of a circle
+through the water with the jar. As we look, we can almost see her
+completing the circle, and drawing up the full jar upon the bank.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clement & Co. FILLING THE
+WATER-BOTTLES John Andrew & Son, Sc.]
+
+The woman who waits her turn is capable of the same feat. There is
+power in every line of her figure as she stands in what has been well
+described by a critic as a "majestic pose." She straightens back
+to rest, with her arms on her hips, quite unconscious that there is
+anything fine in her appearance.
+
+Look a minute and you will see that she is the woman of the Angelus.
+As we saw her in the other picture, with head bowed and hands clasped
+on her breast, we did not realize how grand and strong she was. But
+raising her head, throwing back her chest, and putting her arms on her
+sides, she shows us now her full power.
+
+Both women are dressed alike in the clothing which is now familiar
+to us from the other pictures,--coarse gowns made with scanty skirts,
+long aprons reaching nearly to the bottom of the dress, kerchiefs
+fastened snugly about their heads, and wooden sabots. We could not
+imagine anything that would become them better. It is part of the
+French nature to understand the art of dressing, and this art is
+found just as truly among the peasants of the provinces as in the
+fashionable world at Paris.
+
+The picture is a study in black and white which any one who cares for
+drawing will wish to examine attentively. He was indeed a master who
+could, with a single bit of charcoal, make us feel the witchery of
+this early morning hour by the river-side. We note the many different
+"tones" of the picture,--the faint soft mist of the distant atmosphere
+over the marshes, growing darker on the poplars and the hilly bank in
+the middle distance; the shadow of the bank in the river; the gleam of
+the sunlight on the calm water mid-stream; the ripples about the jar;
+the sharply defined figures of the women, dark on the side turned
+from the sun; and the quivering shadow of the kneeling woman in the
+ripple-broken water in front.
+
+Among primitive peoples the hour of sunrise was a sacred time, when
+hymns were sung and sacrifices were offered to the life-giving sun.
+The painter Millet has expressed something of the mystic solemnity of
+the hour in this picture. The sun has awakened the world to work, and
+in its strength men and women go forth to labor.[1]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: A fine passage on the morning occurs in Thoreau's second
+chapter of _Walden_.]
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+FEEDING HER BIRDS
+
+
+As we have already seen in the picture of the Woman Feeding Hens, the
+dooryard in French village homes is so shut in by walls, that it
+has the privacy of a family living-room. This was the arrangement in
+Millet's own home at Barbizon. The painter was among the fortunate
+ones who had a garden beyond the dooryard. At the other end of this
+was his studio, where he worked many hours of the day. It is said
+that he used to leave the door open that he might hear the children's
+voices at their play. Sometimes, indeed, he would call them in to
+look at his pictures, and was always much pleased when they seemed to
+understand and like them. We may be sure that he often looked across
+the garden to the dooryard where the family life was going on, and
+at such times he must have caught many a pretty picture. Perhaps our
+picture of this mother feeding her children was suggested in this way.
+
+Three healthy, happy children have been playing about in the yard,--a
+girl of six, her younger sister, and a brother still younger. They are
+dressed simply, so as to enjoy themselves thoroughly without fear
+of injuring any fine clothes. All three wear long aprons and wooden
+sabots. The little girls have their flying hair confined in close
+bonnet caps tied under the chin. The boy rejoices in a round cap
+ornamented on top with a button. The sisters take great care of their
+little brother.
+
+The toys are of a very rude sort and evidently of home manufacture. A
+cart is constructed of a board set on clumsy wheels. A doll is roughly
+shaped of wood and wrapped in a hood and blanket. There is a basket
+besides, in which one can gather bits of treasure picked up here and
+there in the yard.
+
+By and by the play is interrupted by a familiar voice. The children
+look up and see their mother standing smiling in the doorway. A bowl
+which she has in her hand is still steaming, and an appetizing odor
+reminds them that they are hungry. The basket and the cart are hastily
+dropped, but not the doll, and they all run to the doorstep. The
+brother is placed in the middle and the sisters seat themselves
+on either side. The elder girl still holds her doll with maternal
+solicitude; the other two children clasp hands, and the sister's arm
+is put around the boy's neck.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clement & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. FEEDING HER BIRDS]
+
+Meanwhile the mother has seated herself directly in front of them, on
+a low stool such as is used by country people as a milking-stool. She
+tips it a little as she leans over to feed the children in turn from a
+long-handled wooden spoon. Of course the first taste is for the little
+brother, and he stretches out his neck eagerly, opening his mouth wide
+so as not to lose a drop. The sisters look on eagerly, the younger one
+opening her own mouth a little, quite unconsciously. An inquisitive
+hen runs up to see what good things there are to eat. In the garden
+beyond, the father works busily at his spading.
+
+The name which Millet gave to this picture is the French word
+_Becquee_, which cannot be translated into any corresponding word in
+English. It means a _beakful_, that is, the food which the mother bird
+holds in her beak to give to the nestlings.
+
+The painter had in mind, you see, a nestful of birds being fed. The
+similarity between the family and the bird life is closely carried
+out in the picture. The children sit together as snugly as birds in
+a nest. The mother bends toward them in a brooding attitude which
+is like the bird mother's. Her extended hand suggests a bird's beak,
+tapering to a sharp point at the end of the spoon. The young bird's
+mouth is wide open, and in pops the nice spoonful of broth! The
+house itself is made to look like a cosy little nest by the vine that
+embowers it. The sturdy stem runs up close by the doorstep and sends
+out over door and window its broad branches of beautiful green leaves.
+
+And just as the father bird watches the nest from his perch on some
+branch of the tree, the father at work in the garden can look from
+time to time at the little family circle in the doorway. As in the
+picture of the Woman Feeding Hens, the house is built of stone covered
+with plaster. The door casing is of large ill-matched blocks of stone.
+The dooryard is made to appear much larger by the glimpse of the
+orchard we get through the gateway. No out-of-door picture is complete
+which does not show something of the beauty of nature. The dooryard
+itself would be a bare place but for the shady garden beyond.
+
+
+
+
+X
+
+THE CHURCH AT GREVILLE
+
+
+The village-commune of Greville has nothing to make it famous except
+that it was the birthplace of the painter Millet. It is at the tip
+of Cape La Hague, which juts abruptly from the French coast into the
+English channel. The cape is a steep headland bristling with granite
+rocks and needles, and very desolate seen from the sea. Inland it is
+pleasant and fruitful, with apple orchards and green meadows.
+
+The village life centres about the church, for the inhabitants of
+Grenville are a serious and God-fearing people. The church is the spot
+around which cluster the most sacred associations of life. Here the
+babies are baptized, and the youths and maidens confirmed; here
+the young people are married, and from here young and old alike are
+carried to their last resting-place. The building is hallowed by the
+memories of many generations of pious ancestors.
+
+The Millet family lived in an outlying hamlet (Gruchy) of Grenville,
+and were somewhat far from the church. Yet they had even more
+associations with it than other village families. Here our painter's
+father had early shown his talent for music at the head of the choir
+of boys who sang at the Sunday service. Here at one time his old
+uncle priest, Charles Millet, held the office of vicar and went every
+morning to say mass.
+
+Among the earliest recollections of Jean Francois was a visit to the
+church of Greville at a time when some new bells had just been bought.
+They were first to be baptized, as was the custom, before being hung
+in the tower, and it was while they still stood on the ground that the
+mother brought her little boy to see them. "I well remember how much
+I was impressed," he afterwards said, "at finding myself in so vast a
+place as the church, which seemed even more immense than our barn, and
+how the beauty of the big windows, with their lozenge-shaped panes,
+struck my imagination."
+
+At the age of twelve the boy went to be confirmed at the church
+of Greville, and thenceforth had another memorable experience to
+associate with the place. The vicar, who questioned him, found him so
+intelligent that he offered to teach him Latin. The lessons led to the
+poems of Virgil, which opened a new world to him.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clement & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE CHURCH AT GREVILLE]
+
+Years passed; the boy became a man and the man became a famous artist.
+But the path to fame had been a toilsome one, and as Millet pressed on
+his way he was able to return but seldom to the spots he had loved
+in his youth, and then only on sad errands. At length the time
+came (1871) when the artist brought his entire family to his native
+Grenville to spend a long summer holiday. Millet made many sketches
+of familiar scenes which gave him material for work for the next three
+years. One of these pictures was that of the village church, which
+he began to paint sitting at one of the windows of the inn where the
+family were staying.
+
+If the building had lost the grandeur it possessed for his childish
+imagination, it was still full of artistic possibilities for a
+beautiful picture.
+
+It is a solid structure, and we fancy that the builders did not have
+far to bring the stone of which it is composed. The great granite
+cliffs which rise from the sea must be an inexhaustible quarry.
+The building is low and broad, to withstand the bleak winds. A less
+substantial structure, perched on this plateau, would be swept over
+the cliffs into the sea. There is something about it suggestive of the
+sturdy character of the Norman peasants themselves, strong, patient,
+and enduring. It is very old; the passing years have covered the walls
+with moss, and nature seems to have made the place her own. It is as
+if, instead of being built with hands, it were a portion of the old
+cliffs themselves.
+
+The grassy hillock against which the church nestles is filled with
+graves, a cross here and there marking the place where some more
+important personage is buried. Here is the sacred spot where Millet's
+saintly old grandmother was laid to rest. A rough stone wall surrounds
+the churchyard, as old and moss-grown as the building itself. Some
+stone steps leading into the yard are hollowed by the feet of many
+generations of worshippers. In the rear is a low stone house embowered
+in trees.
+
+The square bell-tower lifts a weather-vane against the sky, and the
+birds flock about it as about an old home. The rather steep roof is
+slightly depressed, as if beginning to sink in.
+
+With a painter's instinct Millet chose the point of view from which
+all the lines of the church would be most beautiful and whence we may
+see to the best advantage the quaint outlines of the tower. Beside
+this, he took for his work the day and hour when that great artist,
+the sun, could lend most effective help. So we see the simple little
+building at its best. The sky makes a glorious background, with fleecy
+clouds delicately veiling its brilliancy. The bright light throws
+a shadow of the tower across the roof, breaking the monotony of its
+length. The bareness of the big barn-like end is softened by the
+shadow in which it is seen. The plain side is decorated with the
+shadows of the buttresses and window embrasures.
+
+The sheep are as much at home here as the birds. They nibble
+contentedly in the road by the wall, and are undisturbed by the
+approach of a villager. Beyond, at the left, is a glimpse of the level
+stretch of the sea. This is a spot where earth and sky and water meet,
+where the fishermen from the sea and the ploughmen from the fields
+come to worship God.
+
+
+
+
+XI
+
+THE SOWER
+
+
+It is nightfall, and the sky is cloudy save where the last rays of the
+setting sun illumine a spot on the horizon. While the light lasts,
+the Sower still holds to his task of sowing the seed. A large sack of
+grain is fastened about his body and hangs at his left side, where one
+end of it is grasped firmly in the left hand lest any of the precious
+seed be spilled. Into this bag he plunges his right hand from time to
+time, and draws out a handful of grain which he flings into the furrow
+as he walks along.
+
+The Sower's task ended, a series of strange transformations begins in
+the life of the seed. The winter rain softens and swells it, and when
+spring comes it pushes its way up in a tiny shoot. Soon the slender
+blades appear in close lines; by and by the stalks grow tall and
+strong, and the field is full of the beautiful green grain.
+
+Then the hot summer sun shines with ripening power; the wheat turns a
+golden yellow; the ears bend under the weight of the grain, and it is
+time for the harvest. The reapers come with sickle and scythe, and
+the grain is cut, and bound into great sheaves. The thrashing follows,
+when the ear is shaken off the stalk, and the grain is winnowed. And
+now the mills take up the work, the golden wheat grains are crushed,
+and the fine white flour which they contain is sifted and put into
+bags. The flour is mixed and kneaded and baked, and at length comes
+forth from the oven a fragrant loaf of bread.
+
+Now bread is a necessity of life to the people, and the supply of
+bread turns on the history of the seed. If the harvest is plenty, the
+people may eat and be happy. If it is poor, they suffer the miseries
+of hunger. If it fails altogether, they die of starvation. It is then
+a solemn moment when the seed is planted. Often the sower begins
+his task by tossing a handful of grain into the air in the sign of a
+cross, offering a prayer for a blessing on the seed. His is a grave
+responsibility; every handful of seed means many loaves of bread for
+hungry mouths. He must choose the right kind of seed for his soil, the
+right kind of weather for the planting, and use the grain neither too
+lavishly nor too sparingly.[1]
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clement & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE SOWER]
+
+This is why the Sower in our picture takes his task so seriously. He
+carries in his hand the key to prosperity. He is a true king. Peasant
+though he is, he feels the dignity of his calling, and bears himself
+royally. He advances with a long swinging stride, measuring his steps
+rhythmically as if beating time to inaudible music. His right arm
+moves to and fro, swinging from the shoulder as on a pivot, and
+describing the arc of a circle.
+
+The hilly field in which he works is such as the painter Millet was
+familiar with in his peasant childhood in Normandy. A yoke of oxen are
+drawing the plough in the distance, as is the custom in that province.
+The Sower himself is a true Norman peasant.
+
+It is interesting to trace the outlines of the composition. There
+is first the long line on the Sower's right side, beginning at the
+shoulder and following the outer edge of the right leg to the ground.
+On the other side, curving to meet this, is a line which begins at the
+top of the head, follows the left arm and the overhanging sack, and
+is faintly continued by the tiny stream of seed which leaks from the
+corner of the bag and falls near the Sower's foot. Crossing these
+curves in the opposite direction are the lines of the right arm and
+the left leg. Thus the figure is painted in strong simple outlines
+such as we see in the statues by great sculptors.
+
+The line defining the edge of the field against the sky, sloping in
+the direction in which the Sower walks, adds to the impression of
+motion which is so strongly suggested by the picture. As we look, we
+almost expect to see the Sower reach the foot of the slope, and stride
+out of sight, still flinging the grain as he goes.
+
+There is another thing to note about the composition, and that is
+the perfect proportion of the single figure to the canvas which it so
+completely fills. This was the result of the painter's experiments.
+In the haste of his first inspiration he did not allow space enough to
+surround the Sower.[2] He then carefully traced the figure on a larger
+canvas and made a second picture. Afterwards the same subject was
+repeated in a Barbizon landscape.
+
+Our American poet William Cullen Bryant has written a poem called
+"The Song of the Sower," which is very suggestive in connection with
+Millet's painting.[3] This is the way the song ends:--
+
+  "Brethren, the sower's task is done,
+  The seed is in its winter bed.
+  Now let the dark-brown mould be spread,
+  To hide it from the sun,
+  And leave it to the kindly care
+  Of the still earth and brooding air,
+  As when the mother, from her breast,
+  Lays the hushed babe apart to rest,
+  And shades its eyes, and waits to see
+  How sweet its waking smile will be.
+  The tempest now may smite, the sleet
+  All night on the drowned furrow beat,
+  And winds that, from the cloudy hold,
+  Of winter breathe the bitter cold,
+  Stiffen to stone the yellow mould,
+    Yet safe shall lie the wheat;
+  Till, out of heaven's unmeasured blue
+  Shall walk again the genial year,
+  To wake with warmth and nurse with dew
+  The germs we lay to slumber here."
+
+
+[Footnote 1: For farmer's lore as to the diverse soils and diverse
+planting seasons, see Virgil's _Eclogues_, books i. and ii.]
+
+[Footnote 2: In spite of this imperfection the first Sower is a highly
+prized painting and is in the Quincy-Shaw Collection, Boston.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Compare also Victor Hugo's poem, often referred to in
+descriptions of this picture, _Saison des Semailles: Le Soir_.]
+
+
+
+
+XII
+
+THE GLEANERS
+
+
+It is harvest time on a large farm. The broad fields have been shorn
+of their golden grain, and men and women are still busy gathering
+it in. The binders have tied the wheat in sheaves with withes, the
+sheaves are piled upon a wagon and carried to a place near the farm
+buildings, where they are stacked in great mounds resembling enormous
+soup tureens. The overseer rides to and fro on his horse giving orders
+to the laborers.
+
+Now come the gleaners into the field to claim the time-honored
+privilege of gathering up the scattered ears still lying on the
+ground. The custom dates back to very early times.[1] The ancient
+Hebrews had a strict religious law in regard to it: "When ye reap
+the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the
+corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any
+gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to
+the stranger."[2] Another law says that the gleanings are "for the
+fatherless and for the widow; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in
+all the work of thine hands."[3]
+
+This generous practice is still observed in France. The owner of a
+grain field would be afraid of bad luck to the harvest if he should
+refuse to let the gleaners in after the reapers. Gleaning is, however,
+allowed only in broad daylight, that no dishonest persons may carry
+away entire sheaves.
+
+It is near noon of a summer day, and the sun is high in the heavens,
+casting only small shadows about the feet. The gleaners are three
+women of the poorer peasant class. They are tidily dressed in their
+coarse working clothes, and wear kerchiefs tied over their heads, with
+the edge projecting a little over the forehead to shade the eyes. The
+dresses are cut rather low in the neck, for theirs is warm work.
+
+They make their way through the coarse stubble, as sharp as needles,
+gathering here and there a stray ear of the precious wheat. Already
+they have collected enough to make several little bundles, tied
+neatly, and piled together on the ground at one side.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clement & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE GLEANERS]
+
+As we look at them closely we see that they represent the three ages
+of womanhood: there is a maiden, a matron, and an old woman. The
+nearest figure, standing at the right, is the eldest of the three. She
+cannot bear the strain of stooping long at a time, and bends stiffly
+and painfully to her task. Next her is a solidly built woman, with
+square figure and a broad back capable of bearing heavy burdens. Those
+strong large hands have done hard work. The third figure is that of
+a young woman with a lithe, girlish form. With a girl's thought for
+appearance she has pinned her kerchief so that the ends at the back
+form a little cape to shield her neck from the burning sun. Unlike
+her companions, she wears no apron. While the others use their aprons
+doubled up to form sacks for their gleanings, she holds her grain in
+her hand.
+
+If you will try in turn each one of the positions taken by the several
+figures, you will see how differently the three work. The two who put
+the grain in the apron, or pass it into the hand which rests on the
+knee, must every time lift themselves up with an awkward backward
+motion. The younger gleaner has found a short and direct route from
+one hand to the other, by resting the left hand, palm up, upon the
+back, where the right can reach it by a simple upward motion of the
+arm which requires no exertion of the body. Her method saves the
+strength and is more graceful.
+
+Moving forward in the stooping posture, with eyes fixed upon the
+ground, the figures of the gleaners have been compared to great
+grasshoppers, making their odd, irregular, hopping progress across the
+field. Even as we look they seem to move toward us.
+
+The picture is a fine study in lines. The middle figure is constructed
+in a square outline, and this square effect is emphasized in various
+ways,--by the right angle formed between the line across the bust and
+the right arm, by the square corner between chin and neck, and by the
+square shape of the kerchief at the back of the head. We thus get an
+idea of the solid, prosaic character of the woman herself.
+
+The younger woman is a creature of beautiful curves. The lines of her
+back and bust flow together in an oval figure which the position of
+the left arm completes. The outstretched right arm continues the fine
+line across the back. The lovely curve of the throat, the shapeliness
+of the hand, even the pretty adjustment of the kerchief, lend added
+touches to the charm of the youthful figure.
+
+The lines of the standing figure curve towards the other two, and
+carry the composition to sufficient height. The lines enclosing the
+entire group form a mound-like figure not unlike a wheat stack in
+shape. A wheat stack faintly seen across the distance in the centre of
+the field marks the apex of the mound, the sides being formed by the
+outer lines of the two outer figures.
+
+When we compare the picture with the others we have seen in the same
+general style of composition, showing a level plain with figures in
+front, we note how much more detail the background of the Gleaners
+contains. This is because the figures do not come above the horizon
+line, as do those in the Angelus and Shepherdess. Hence the eye must
+be led upward by minor objects, to take in the entire panorama spread
+before us.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: See the Book of Ruth.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Leviticus, chapter xxiii., verse 22.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Deuteronomy, chapter xxiv., verse 19.]
+
+
+
+
+XIII
+
+THE MILKMAID[1]
+
+
+All through the years of Millet's life and work in Barbizon, his
+thoughts used to turn often to the little village in Normandy where
+he spent his youth. His early life in the fields impressed upon his
+memory all the out-of-door sights peculiar to his native province. The
+customs of peasants in France differ in the various provinces just
+as do ours in the various states. Some of the household utensils in
+Millet's childhood's home were such as he never saw elsewhere,
+and always remembered with pleasure. The ways of doing the work in
+Greville were not altogether like the ways of Barbizon, and Millet's
+observant eye and retentive memory noted these differences with
+interest. When he revisited his home in later life, he made careful
+sketches of some of the jugs and kitchen utensils used in the family.
+He even carried off to his Barbizon studio one particular brass jar
+which was used when the girl went to the field to milk cows. He also
+sketched a girl carrying a jug of milk on her shoulder in the
+fashion of the place. Out of such studies was made our picture of the
+Milkmaid. "Women in my country carry jars of milk in that way," said
+the painter when explaining the picture to a visitor at his studio,
+and went on to tell of other features of the life in Normandy, which
+he reproduced in his pictures, though some of them he had not seen in
+all the long time since his boyhood. As a reminiscence of Normandy the
+Milkmaid is a companion piece to the Sower. There are other points of
+resemblance between the two pictures, as we shall see.
+
+The day draws to its close in splendor, and the western sky is all
+aflame. Against this brilliant background the figure of the Milkmaid
+looms up grandly as she advances along the path through the meadow.
+She is returning from the field which lies on the other slope of the
+hill. There the cows are pastured and a rude fence marks the boundary.
+The girl has been out for the milking, and a cow near the fence turns
+its head in the direction of her retreating figure.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clement & Co, John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE MILKMAID]
+
+The milk is carried in a large jar on the left shoulder. By holding
+the left arm akimbo, hand resting on the hip, the girl makes her
+shoulder a little broader, as it were, enlarging the support of the
+jar. The way in which the burden is kept in place is very interesting.
+To put up the right arm to steady it would be impossible, for the arm
+is not long enough to insure a firm grasp upon so heavy a weight. So
+a cord or strap is passed through the handle of the jar, carried over
+the head, and held in the right hand. The strong arm is stretched
+tense to keep the strap tight. The head must of course be protected
+from the straining of the cord, the shoulder from the pressure of
+the jar. Both are therefore well padded. The head pad resembles a cap
+hanging in lappets on each side. Even with this protection the girl's
+face shows the strain.
+
+A picture like this teaches us that there are other ways of giving
+a figure beauty than by making the face pretty. Just as Millet's
+Shepherdess differs altogether from the little Bopeep of the nursery
+tale, so this peasant girl is not at all like the pretty milkmaids
+who carry milking-stools and shining pails through the pages of the
+picture books. Millet had no patience with such pictures. Pretty girls
+were not fit for hard work, he said, and he always wanted to have the
+people he painted look as if they belonged to their station. Fitness
+was in his mind one of the chief elements of beauty.
+
+So he shows us in this Milkmaid a young woman framed in the massive
+proportions of an Amazon, and eminently fitted for her lot in life.
+Her chief beauty lies in the expression of her splendidly developed
+figure. Her choicest gifts are the health and virtue which most abound
+in the free life of God's country.
+
+  "God made the country, and man made the town.
+  What wonder, then, that health and virtue, gifts
+  That can alone make sweet the bitter draught
+  That life holds out to all, should most abound
+  And least be threatened in the fields and groves."[2]
+
+A study of the lines of the picture will show the artistic beauty of
+the composition. You may trace a long beautiful curve beginning at the
+girl's finger tip and extending along the cord across the top of the
+milk jar. Starting from the same point another good line follows the
+arm and shoulder across the face and along the edge of the jar. At the
+base of the composition we find corresponding lines which may be drawn
+from the toe of the right foot. One follows the diagonal of the path
+and the other runs along the edge of the lifted skirt.
+
+There are other fine lines in the drawing of the bodice and the folds
+of the skirt. Altogether they are as few in number and as strongly
+emphasized, though not so grand, as those of the Sower.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: The title of Water-Carrier has been incorrectly attached
+to this picture, though the sketch on which it is based is properly
+known as the Milkmaid.]
+
+[Footnote 2: From Cowper's _Task_.]
+
+
+
+
+XIV
+
+THE WOMAN CHURNING
+
+
+Again we are in the picturesque province of Normandy, and are shown
+the interior of a dairy where a woman is busy churning. It is a
+quaint place, with raftered ceiling and stone-paved floor, and the
+furnishings are only such as are required by the work in hand. On some
+wooden shelves against the farther wall are vessels of earthenware and
+metal, to hold cream, cheese, butter, and the like. The churn is one
+of the old-fashioned upright sort, not unlike those used in early New
+England households, and large enough to contain a good many quarts of
+cream. The woman stands beside it, grasping with both hands the handle
+of the dasher, or plunger, which is worked up and down to keep the
+cream in motion and so change it into butter.
+
+In the beginning of the churning process the movement of the dasher
+is slow, so that the cream may be thoroughly mixed. Then it goes more
+rapidly for a time, till, just as the arms grow weary, the butter
+begins to "come," when the speed slackens to the end, the entire
+process occupying thirty or forty minutes. The butter collects in
+yellow lumps, which are at length taken from the churn, washed and
+kneaded to press out the buttermilk, and then moulded into pats. The
+pleasure of the finishing touches makes up for the fatiguing monotony
+of the churning. George Eliot, in the novel of "Adam Bede," gives a
+charming description of Hetty Sorrel's butter-making, with all
+the pretty attitudes and movements of patting and rolling the
+sweet-scented butter into moulds.
+
+We can hardly tell, from the attitude of the woman in our picture, how
+far her work has progressed, but her expression of satisfaction seems
+to show that the butter is "coming" well. The work of butter-making
+varies curiously at different times. Sometimes the butter comes
+quickly and easily, and again, only after long and laborious delays.
+There seems, indeed, no rule about the process; it appears to be all
+a matter of "luck." Country people have always been very superstitious
+in regard to it; and not understanding the true reasons for a
+successful or an unsuccessful churning, they attribute any remarkable
+effects to supernatural agencies.
+
+In the old days of witchcraft superstitions, they used to think that
+when the cream did not readily turn to butter, the churn had been
+tampered with by some witch, like Mabel Martin's mother in Whittier's
+poem. Witches were sometimes supposed to work a baleful charm on the
+milk by putting under the doorsill some magical object, such as a
+picture of a toad or a lizard.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clement & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE WOMAN CHURNING]
+
+In Scotland, when churning was easy it was because of the secret help
+of the "brownie." He was a tiny, elf-like creature who lived in the
+barn and was never seen of men; but his presence was made known by
+his many deeds of helpfulness in kitchen and dairy, for which he
+was rewarded by a daily bowl of milk. Those who have read George
+MacDonald's story of Sir Gibbie remember how the little waif from
+the city was mistaken for a brownie because he secretly helped in the
+churning.
+
+In France a pious class of peasants pray to St. Blaise for a blessing
+on their various farm occupations, including the dairy work. A hymn
+written to the saint contains this petition:--
+
+  "In our dairies, curds and cream
+  And fair cheeses may we see:
+  Great St. Blaise, oh, grant our plea."[1]
+
+Some such prayer as this may be running through the mind of the woman
+in our picture. She has the earnest and simple character which belongs
+to the Norman peasant. Hers is a kindly nature, too, and the cat rubs
+familiarly against her as if sure of a friend who has often set a
+saucer of milk in his way. With sleeves rolled up and skirts tucked
+about her, she attacks her work in a strong, capable way which shows
+that it is a pleasure. The light comes from some high window at the
+left, and, gleaming on her arms, shows how firm and hard the flesh is.
+
+We know that this is a Norman peasant woman from her tall cap. There
+are many styles of caps peculiar to different parts of France, but
+those worn in Normandy are remarkable for their height. When some of
+the people of this province emigrated to the western continent and
+settled in Acadia, the land of Evangeline, the women brought their
+caps with them and continued to wear them many years, as we read in
+Longfellow's "Evangeline."
+
+Our previous studies of the other pictures of this collection help us
+to see at once the good points of composition in the Woman Churning.
+The main lines of the group in the foreground form a tall pyramid. The
+shape of the churn gives us the line at the right side, and the figure
+of the cat carries the line of the woman's skirt into a corresponding
+slant on the left. The lines of the tiled floor add to the pyramidal
+effect by converging in perspective. Even the broom leaning against
+the shelf near the door takes the same diagonal direction as the tiles
+of the right side.
+
+We have here also a new illustration of the art of treating inclosed
+spaces.[2] An outlet is given to the room through the door opening
+into the farmyard. Across the yard stands a low cow-shed, in which
+a woman is seated milking a cow. This building, however, does not
+altogether block up the view from the dairy door. Above the roof is a
+strip of sky, and through a square window at the back is seen a bit of
+the meadow.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: From Ronsard's "Hymn to St. Blaise," translated by Henry
+Naegely in _J.F. Millet and Rustic Art_.]
+
+[Footnote 2: See chapters ii. and vi.]
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+THE MAN WITH THE HOE
+
+
+To the peasant farmer every month of the year brings its own labors.
+From seed time to harvest there is a constant succession of different
+tasks, and hardly is the harvest gathered in before it is time to
+prepare again for planting. Before ploughing can be begun the fields
+must first be cleared of stubble and weeds. Now in Millet's village of
+Barbizon, this clearing of the fields was done, in his day, by means
+of an implement called in French a _houe_. Although we translate the
+word as hoe, the tool is quite unlike the American article of that
+name. It looks a little like a carpenter's adze, though much larger
+and heavier, the blade being as broad as that of a shovel. The handle
+is short and the implement is very clumsy and fatiguing to use. Even
+the stoutest peasant finds the work wearisome.
+
+The man in our picture has paused for a moment's rest in this toilsome
+labor, and leans panting on his hoe. In the heat of his toil he has
+thrown off his hat and blouse, which now lie together on the ground
+behind him. His damp hair is matted together on his forehead, his
+brawny chest is exposed by the open shirt, his horny hands are clasped
+over the hoe handle. Some distant object catches his eye. It may be a
+farm wagon moving across the plain, or perhaps a bird flying through
+the clear air. To follow the course of such an object a moment is a
+welcome change from the monotonous rise and fall of the hoe.
+
+It is a rough and uneven field in which the laborer works, rising here
+and there in small hillocks, and thickly overgrown with brambles and
+coarse tufts of herbage. When these weeds are loosened from the soil,
+they are raked in little heaps and burned. In the field just back of
+this is a circle of these bonfires, sending up their columns of smoke
+towards the sky. A young woman is busy raking together the piles. In
+the distance she looks like a priestess of ancient times presiding
+at some mystic rites of fire worship. Far beyond, a shapely tree is
+outlined against the horizon.
+
+[Illustration: From a carbon print by Braun, Clement & Co. John Andrew
+& Son, Sc. THE MAN WITH THE HOE]
+
+To study this picture profitably, we must consider separately the
+subject and the artistic qualities. These two elements in a work
+of art are often confused, but are in reality quite distinct. Very
+unpleasant subjects have sometimes been employed in pictures of great
+artistic merit, and again beautiful subjects have sometimes been
+treated very indifferently. When great art is united with a great
+subject, we have ideal perfection; but poor art and a poor subject
+together are intolerable. Now some people think only of the subject
+when they look at a picture, and others, more critical, look only at
+the qualities of art it contains. The best way of all is to try to
+understand something of both.
+
+In the first glance at this picture we do not find the subject very
+attractive. The laborer is awkward, he is stupid looking, and he
+is very weary. If we are to look at laborers, we like to see them
+graceful, intelligent, and active like the Sower. As a redeeming
+quality, the Man with the Hoe has a certain patient dignity which
+commands our respect, but with all that, we do not call it a pleasant
+subject.
+
+But look a moment at the strong, noble outlines of the drawing and see
+how finely modelled is the figure. So carefully did Millet study this
+work that he first modelled the figure in clay that he might give it
+more vitality in the painting. This Man with the Hoe seems indeed not
+a painted figure, but a real living, breathing human being, whom we
+can touch and find of solid flesh and blood.
+
+We must note, too, how grandly the figure is thrown out against
+the sky and the plain. There is something to observe, also, in the
+proportions of the man to the background. The broad pyramid made by
+the bending figure and the hoe needs plenty of space at each side to
+set it off, hence the oblong shape of the picture. These, and other
+artistic qualities not so easily observed and understood, all give the
+picture "a place among the greater artistic conceptions of all time."
+
+The Man with the Hoe has probably caused more discussion than any
+other of Millet's paintings. From the very first those who care only
+for the subject of a picture have condemned it, while the critics have
+praised its artistic qualities. Many have thought that Millet made
+the subject as unpleasant as possible in order to show the degrading
+effects of work. The same theory was suggested when the Sower and
+the Gleaners appeared. The painter himself was much troubled by these
+misunderstandings. "I have never dreamed of being a pleader in any
+cause," he said. He simply painted life as he saw it, and had no
+thought of teaching strange doctrines against labor. Indeed, no man
+ever felt more deeply than he the dignity of labor.
+
+When everything which could be said for or against the picture had
+been exhausted on the other side of the Atlantic, the picture was
+brought to this country and finally to the State of California. Here
+the discussion began all over again. There were those who were so
+impressed by the unpleasant character of the subject that they could
+not find words strong enough to express their horror. The Man with
+the Hoe was called "a monstrous thing distorted and soul-quenched," a
+"dread" and "terrible" shape, "a thing that grieves not and that never
+hopes," a "brother to the ox," and many other things which would have
+surprised and grieved Millet.
+
+Of course, any one to whom the pathos of the subject itself appeals
+so strongly can have little thought for the artistic qualities of the
+picture. So Edwin Markham, the writer of the poem from which
+these expressions are quoted, lets the subject lead him on into an
+impassioned protest against "the degradation of labor,--the oppression
+of man by man,"--all of which has nothing to do with the picture.
+
+Millet was not one to care at all for what he called "pretty"
+subjects, as we have already seen in studying the picture of the
+Milkmaid. "He felt that only by giving to his figures the expression
+and character which belonged to their condition could he obey the laws
+of beauty in art, for he knew that a work of art is beautiful only
+when it is homogeneous."[1]
+
+This was the theory which he put into practice in the Man with the
+Hoe, and one who understands well both his theories and his art sums
+up the great painting in these words: "The noble proportions of the
+figure alone would give this work a place among the greater artistic
+conceptions of all time, while the severe and simple pathos of this
+moment of respite in the interminable earth struggle, invests it with
+a sublimity which belongs to eternal things alone." [2]
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Pierre Millet in the _Century_.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Henry Naegely.]
+
+
+
+
+XVI
+
+THE PORTRAIT OF MILLET
+
+
+In studying the works of any great painter many questions naturally
+arise as to the personality of the man himself and the influences
+which shaped his life. Some such questions have already been answered
+as we have examined these fifteen pictures by Millet. Jean Francois
+Millet, we have learned, was of peasant parentage and spent the
+greater part of his life in the country. His pious Norman ancestors
+bequeathed him a rich heritage of strong and serious traits. From
+them, too, he drew that patience and perseverance which helped him to
+overcome so many obstacles in his career.
+
+In the surroundings of his childhood he saw no pictures and heard
+nothing of art or artists. Yet at a very early age he showed a
+remarkable talent for drawing. His artistic temperament was inherited
+from his father, who was a great lover of music and of everything
+beautiful. "Look," he sometimes said, plucking a blade of grass
+and showing it to his little boy, "how beautiful this is." His
+grandmother, too, had a true poetic vein in her nature. She would come
+to the child's bedside in the morning, calling, "Wake up, my little
+Francois, you don't know how long the birds have been singing the
+glory of God." In such a family the youth's gifts were readily
+recognized, and he was sent to Cherbourg, the nearest large town,
+to learn to be a painter. Here, and later in Paris, he received
+instruction from various artists, but his greatest teacher was Nature.
+So he turned from the schools of Paris, and the artificial standards
+of his fellow artists there, to study for himself, at first hand, the
+peasant life he wished to portray. What a delightful place Barbizon
+was for such work we have seen from some of his pictures.
+
+It was during the fruitful years of work at Barbizon that Millet
+made the crayon portrait of himself which is reproduced as our
+frontispiece. He was a large, strong, deep-chested man, somewhat above
+the medium height. An admirer has described him as "one of nature's
+noblemen," and his younger brother Pierre says he was "built like
+a Hercules." He had an inherent distaste for fine clothes which he
+showed even in boyhood. When he grew to be a painter, and returned to
+visit his family in Greville, the villagers were scandalized to see
+the city artist appear in their streets in blouse and sabots.
+
+As we see in the portrait, Millet had long wavy hair, falling over
+his shoulders, and a thick black beard. His forehead was high and
+intelligent, and his nose delicately cut and sensitive. His eyes were
+gray-blue, of the kind which look a man through and through and which
+nothing escapes. The artist had so trained these wonderful eyes of his
+that he had only to turn them on a scene to photograph the impression
+indelibly on his memory.
+
+The face that we see in the portrait is that of a thinker, a poet, and
+an artist. It is the face of one who held intimate converse with the
+great poets of the ages, of one whose favorite books were the Bible,
+Virgil, Theocritus and Shakespeare. Though Millet had many genial
+traits in his nature, his expression here is profoundly serious. Such
+an expression tells much of the inner life of the man. His pictures
+were too original to be popular at once, and while he waited for
+purchasers he found it hard to support his family. His anxieties wore
+upon his health, and he was subject to frequent headaches of frightful
+severity. Nor was the struggle with poverty his only trial. He had to
+contend constantly against the misconceptions and misrepresentations
+of hostile critics.
+
+He was of too stern a nature and too loyal to his ideals to vary a
+hair's breadth from his course, yet criticism embittered him. "Give me
+signboards to paint, if you will," he exclaimed, "but at least let
+me think out my subjects in my own fashion and finish the work that I
+have to do, in peace."
+
+Like all who have great originality, Millet lived in a world of his
+own, and had but a few congenial friends. To such friends, however,
+and in the inner circle of his home, he opened his great and tender
+heart, and all who knew him loved him.
+
+
+
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