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diff --git a/old/13119.txt b/old/13119.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1caa1d0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13119.txt @@ -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. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JEAN FRANCOIS MILLET*** + + +******* This file should be named 13119.txt or 13119.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/1/1/13119 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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