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diff --git a/43068-0.txt b/43068-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d5d7582 --- /dev/null +++ b/43068-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1282 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43068 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 43068-h.htm or 43068-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43068/43068-h/43068-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43068/43068-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + https://archive.org/details/milletocad00turnuoft + + + + + +Masterpieces in Colour + +Edited by--T. Leman Hare + +MILLET + +1814-1875 + + + * * * * * + + "MASTERPIECES IN COLOUR" SERIES + + + ARTIST. AUTHOR. + VELAZQUEZ. S. L. BENSUSAN. + REYNOLDS. S. L. BENSUSAN. + TURNER. C. LEWIS HIND. + ROMNEY. C. LEWIS HIND. + GREUZE. ALYS EYRE MACKLIN. + BOTTICELLI. HENRY B. BINNS. + ROSSETTI. LUCIEN PISSARRO. + BELLINI. GEORGE HAY. + FRA ANGELICO. JAMES MASON. + REMBRANDT. JOSEF ISRAELS. + LEIGHTON. A. LYS BALDRY. + RAPHAEL. PAUL G. KONODY. + HOLMAN HUNT. MARY E. COLERIDGE. + TITIAN. S. L. BENSUSAN. + MILLAIS. A. LYS BALDRY. + CARLO DOLCI. GEORGE HAY. + GAINSBOROUGH. MAX ROTHSCHILD. + TINTORETTO. S. L. BENSUSAN. + LUINI. JAMES MASON. + FRANZ HALS. EDGCUMBE STALEY. + VAN DYCK. PERCY M. TURNER. + LEONARDO DA VINCI. M. W. BROCKWELL. + RUBENS. S. L. BENSUSAN. + WHISTLER. T. MARTIN WOOD. + HOLBEIN. S. L. BENSUSAN. + BURNE-JONES. A. LYS BALDRY. + VIGÉE LE BRUN. C. HALDANE MACFALL. + CHARDIN. PAUL G. KONODY. + FRAGONARD. C. HALDANE MACFALL. + MEMLINC. W. H. J. & J. C. WEALE. + CONSTABLE. C. LEWIS HIND. + RAEBURN. JAMES L. CAW. + JOHN S. SARGENT. T. MARTIN WOOD. + LAWRENCE. S. L. BENSUSAN. + DÜRER. H. E. A. FURST. + MILLET. PERCY M. TURNER. + WATTEAU. C. LEWIS HIND. + HOGARTH. C. LEWIS HIND. + MURILLO. S. L. BENSUSAN. + WATTS. W. LOFTUS HARE. + INGRES. A. J. FINBERG. + + _Others in Preparation._ + + * * * * * + + + [Illustration: PLATE I.--THE WOOD-CUTTER. Frontispiece + + (In the Louvre) + + An instance of Millet in a less pessimistic mood than we + generally find him. The wood-cutter, pursuing his vocation on a + warm sunny day, full of life and vigour, brings before us the + joyous side of peasant life. We feel that he is happy and + contented, and if his lot is somewhat hard, he has none of those + distracting ambitions which mar the enjoyment in life to all who + fall a prey to them. The wood in the background is a good + example of Millet's powers in this direction.] + + +MILLET + +by + +PERCY M. TURNER + +Illustrated with Eight Reproductions in Colour + + + + + + + +[Illustration: IN SEMPITERNUM.] + +London: T. C. & E. C. Jack +New York: Frederick A. Stokes Co. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + Page + I. Introduction 11 + II. Millet's Early Life 29 + III. The Migration to Paris 41 + IV. The Struggle for Recognition 52 + V. Millet in his Maturity 57 + VI. The Man and his Art 72 + + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + Plate Page + I. The Wood-Cutter Frontispiece + In the Louvre + + II. The Weed-burner 14 + In the Louvre + + III. The Church at Gréville 24 + In the Louvre + + IV. The Gleaners 34 + In the Louvre + + V. The Straw-binders 40 + In the Louvre + + VI. Spring 50 + In the Louvre + + VII. The Sawyers 60 + In the South Kensington Museum + + VIII. The Sheep-fold 70 + In the Glasgow Corporation Art Galleries + + + + +I + +INTRODUCTION + + +Amongst the great painters of peasant life the name of Jean François +Millet stands out prominently. A long interval elapsed betwixt the +death of Adrian van Ostade and the birth of Millet, unbroken by a +single name, with the solitary exception of Chardin, of a painter who +grasped the profundity of peasant life. In Holland and Flanders in +the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries we find many painters who, +whilst living the humblest lives themselves, saw in their surroundings +such material for treatment as has handed their names down to +posterity. It is only quite recently that one of the greatest of all, +Pieter Brueghel the Elder, has come to occupy his proper position in +the world of art. Formerly he was looked upon as an eccentric painter, +whose subjects were generally of rather a coarse nature; who, +moreover, contented himself with depicting the droller side of the +village life of his period, and consequently was not to be taken +seriously. Of late years, however, an exhaustive research into his +life and works have revealed him as one of the greatest masters in his +own sphere of any time. The wonderful series of pictures in Vienna, +and the solitary examples scattered about the great collections of +Europe, proclaim him not only a painter, but a philosopher as well. +His peasants, grotesque as they may now appear to us, possess a +fidelity and vigour of handling such as none of his contemporaries +possess. To him, consequently, we must look as the fountain-head of +all peasant painting. His influence was immediately felt in the +Low Countries, and there sprang up that wonderful school of which +Adrian Brouwer, Jan Steen, and Adrian van Ostade are such brilliant +exponents. In their more recent prototype--Millet--the same profound +and sympathetic rendering of the everyday life of the simple peasant +is to be found, tinged with the melancholy fervour of his temperament. +Their temperament bears the same relation to his as the seventeenth +century does to the nineteenth. A more subdued temper had come over +all classes of the community, a less boisterous attitude towards life, +but the struggle for existence was none the less strenuous or +unending. The rollicking and reckless joy of Brouwer's peasants, with +their hard drinking and lusty bawling, was an essential feature of +Dutch life of the period. But they are every whit as precious from an +artistic and historical standpoint as are the placid interiors of +Millet. + + [Illustration: PLATE II.--THE WEED-BURNER + + (In the Louvre) + + A notable example of the simplicity of motive which + characterises Millet's finest works. The treatment of the + peasant figure in the centre of the picture is dominated by + sincerity and sympathy. The half suggested landscape forming the + background is symbolical of man's hard struggle with Nature. The + colour scheme is very subdued, and serves to accentuate the + wonderful outline and natural pose of the woman.] + +During the two centuries which elapsed between these great masters +many changes had come over the lives of European people. The spread of +education, permeating down even to the lowest classes, had tended to +the sobering of habits; and the French peasant, with the partial +uplifting and greater contact through more equitable distribution of +the land which the Revolution had bestowed upon him, was a quieter man +than his Dutch prototype who had preceded him by a couple of +centuries. + +In Millet's rendering of the life he found around him, the same +incisive truth and absorbing sincerity is to be found as in the +Dutchmen with whom I have compared him, and consequently Millet can be +considered as a direct lineal descendant of the mighty Brueghel. + +The entire absence of the Dutchmen's brutality in Millet's work is to +be accounted for, firstly, by the extreme gentleness of his own +disposition; and, secondly, by his study of some of the greatest +masters of the Italian renaissance. His keenness of perception can be +gauged by his enthusiastic appreciation of Andrea Mantegna at a time +when the merits of that master were not understood as they are to-day. +Many of his noblest inspirations were conceived under the Paduan +painter's influence, and one could cite many compositions in which the +train of thought of the two masters seems to run upon parallel lines. + +Upon first regarding a picture of Millet's mature years, one wonders +from whence come those subtleties of line and tone. There is nothing +analogous to them in the works of his contemporaries. The difference +too between his early efforts and those of his later years is +stupendous, but the lines which his development pursued are +essentially due to the simplicity of the life he led and the high +ideal he invariably kept before him. Living, as he always did, a life +of struggle, a never-ending battle against seemingly overwhelming +odds, he was in a position to grasp the sorrows and troubles of the +simple folk by whom he was surrounded. He further saw that work, +although they themselves were not aware of it, alone made life +liveable to them. He shared their struggles in their most intense and +poignant form. In fact when one contemplates the life which Millet +led, both at Gréville and at Barbizon, with its strenuousness and +earnestness, faced, moreover, with the ever-present dread of want, it +is to be wondered that he had the courage to live his life as he did. + +It has become the fashion lately to decry certain phases of his art. A +charge of sentimentality is urged against some of his most popular +works. The "Angelus," about which many hard things have lately been +said, is a case in point. It must be remembered that modern life, +particularly as lived in great cities such as London or Paris, does +not tend to foster those simple ideas upon religion, which the +peasant, far removed from great centres of population, implicitly +accepts. He is, as a rule, a man of but little education, who has +heard nothing of the doubts and scepticisms with which townspeople of +every grade of society are so familiar. His ideas on religion are +exactly those which have come to him from his parents, and he is +incapable of doubting the elementary truths he was first taught. Such +simple ideas have departed from even the peasantry in most parts of +France. Only in Brittany and in La Vendée could one to-day encounter +the types Millet has portrayed for us in the "Angelus." + +The two figures in the foreground are symbolical of all that is most +touching in French peasant life. The end of the day has arrived, and +after many hours of unremitting toil, the ringing of the bell in the +distant tower proclaims the finish of another day. The wonderful still +atmosphere which envelops the far-stretching plain, the whole suffused +with the effects of a placid and glorious sunset, lends an intensity +of poetical feeling which harmoniously blends with the placid nature +of the theme. All around us we have evidence of man's perpetual +struggle with nature, the grim fight for subsistence, for life itself. +The ploughed field has yielded many a crop, the reward of arduous +labour expended in sowing and reaping. The small recompense to the +labourer himself is symbolised by the extreme poverty with which the +man and woman are clothed, whilst the degrading nature of the toil, as +in the far famous "Man with the Hoe," is brought before us in the +rugged types of the labourer and his wife. The only softening +influence in their lives is that imparted by religion, and in choosing +this moment of the angelus for depicting them, Millet has brought +before us in the most forcible form not only the degrading character +of much of the toil which is entailed in producing the necessities of +existence, but also the danger of removing by any sudden change, no +matter how well intentioned, the consoling influence of religious +belief. A work into which such intense earnestness and melancholy +truth is infused can never be designated sentimental, except by those +who have not freely grasped the immense import of these qualities in +the production of great and enduring art. Brilliancy of technique and +extraordinary facilities, if unsupported by a determination to convey +some message, will inevitably find its own level, whilst the painter +who possesses this supreme quality will assuredly come into his own. + +It must never be forgotten that in considering the oil paintings of +Millet, the subtleties of atmosphere and line can never be appreciated +if one is not acquainted with the country he painted. No two countries +are alike in atmospheric effect, and it is necessary, therefore, in +order to appreciate an artist to the full, to have studied the country +he has chosen to depict. The outlines of the landscape, the very shape +of the trees, the colour imparted by sunshine and clouds, differ +materially in various districts, and consequently it behoves one to +exercise caution before condemning this or that effect as being untrue +to nature. + +It may safely be said that as a painter, purely and simply, Millet +will never occupy a very high position in the world of art. He never +bursts forth into any of those pyrotechnics which distinguished many +of his contemporaries and some of the painters of our own days. His +manner of handling the brush is always restrained to the point of +timidity. By this I do not mean to imply that he could not paint in a +large and bold manner; indeed on many occasions, as for example in the +"Sawyers," he has attained an astonishing degree of power. But as his +whole thoughts were directed to suppressing any tendencies towards +virtuosity, which might divert attention from the point he wished to +illustrate, he frequently appears to achieve his ends by holding +himself in restraint. + +Another dominant characteristic of Millet's art is that the instant he +throws off his sadly philosophic mood, he is no longer a great artist. +For example, in the well-known picture of "La Baigneuse," he +endeavours to draw himself into depicting the brighter side of life. +In a wood resplendent with the sunlit foliage of a glorious summer +day, a young girl is about to enter the small river which runs +placidly between the moss-covered banks. In the distance a number of +ducks are disporting themselves in the water. Here is a theme which +would appeal irresistibly to a man of the temperament of Diaz; he +could impart the glories of colour as they were reflected from the +mirror-like surface of the water, the shimmering of the trees and the +delicious effect of the balmy breeze as it rustled through the +branches. But in the hands of Millet it is nothing but a sad +composition; the figure is well drawn; the ducks are admirably placed +in the composition, and the trees treated with studious fidelity, but +there is that great indefinable something lacking which attracts us +towards the master when working in a sadder mood. + +Millet can be described as being more a philosopher than a painter. +Not only in his great paintings, which by the way are not very +numerous, but in his drawings and etchings, we discover the mind of a +man who has grappled with, and understood the great problems of life. +Poor as he was, and remained all his life, it is doubtful whether +riches or an improvement in circumstances would have brought him any +increased happiness. He loved the open country, and still more the +solitary peasant whom he found working in the fields, earning a bare +subsistence for himself and his little _ménage_ in the neighbouring +village. His interest was divided between the man at his work and his +wife and children in the _ménage_. The simplest incidents of their +everyday life did not escape him, and the smallest duty which would +have left unaffected a less observant nature has been made the subject +of many a fine canvas. + + [Illustration: PLATE III.--THE CHURCH AT GRÉVILLE + + (In the Louvre) + + One of the subtlest landscapes by Millet in existence. It shows + that on occasions he could leave the beaten track and still + remain as great a master as ever. Everybody who knows the + atmosphere of Normandy will appreciate its truth and poetry. The + marvellous results he has achieved with such a simple theme is + worthy of our praise. The whole effect is so natural that we are + apt to forget the keen sense of composition that was needed to + present the subject in such an attractive form.] + +Millet seems particularly to have been impressed with the loneliness +of the peasant's labour. Take, for example, that wonderfully luminous +canvas, "The Sheep Pen." Here, in the midst of a vast plain, a large +space is marked out in which to enclose the sheep for the night. The +sun, sinking low in the horizon, warns the shepherd that the time has +arrived for him to call together his flock and place them in safe +quarters for the night. Accompanied by his faithful dog, he stands at +the opening of the pen allowing the sheep to enter two or three at a +time. There is no other living soul in sight. Alone he has kept guard +over the flock during the long day, with no other company than his dog +and his own thoughts. He is dead to the beauties of the landscape +around him, and sees nothing more in a field than how much corn can be +raised each year from it, or in the sheep he tends so carefully how +much mutton it will make. He feels nothing of the glorious beauties of +the sunset, of which he is so often a witness; how it softens the +lines of the horizon and suffuses the distant woods and plain with its +golden rays. He sees nothing of the changes momentarily occurring in +the sky: how the blues get fainter and fainter, how the clouds are +tinged with opalescent hues, the shadows prolonging themselves as the +orb sinks deeper and deeper; or how, finally, when the sun has +disappeared, the whole heavens are lighted up in one blaze of glory. +Yet Millet would have us understand that in spite of this, the +shepherd is performing a duty to humanity not to be underrated. The +sheep he has so carefully and conscientiously reared will form food +to-morrow for many a hungry town-dweller. Further, he would have us +follow the peasant as he closes the pen for the night and traces his +tired steps towards his simple home in the village. The frugal and +hard-earned meal, prepared for him by his wife, who like himself has +had her share of duties to occupy her during the day, is partaken of +surrounded by a hungry and joyous group of children. Such themes +suggested by the simplicity of his own life appealed to him with +irresistible force, and it is in their portrayal that his greatness is +manifested. + +Perhaps no season of the year presented the same attraction for Millet +as the spring. The period when all the earth after its long winter +sleep is about to waken into new life seems to have always been a +source of inspiration to him. In "The Sower" he emphasises the fact +that the fruits of the harvest are not to be had without due labour +being expended upon the earth. The sloping field, barren of +vegetation, and crowned at the top with a small clump of trees, is +being broken up by the distant plough drawn by two horses and guided +by a peasant. The latter figure is one of the noblest of Millet's +creations. By his strained and ever-attentive attitude, by his +continuous tramp over the rough and broken ground, he shows us the +monotony of his toil. He crosses the field in one direction, only to +return at an interval of a few feet. In the foreground we have the +sower, a middle-aged man of typical peasant type, on whose left side a +bag of seeds is slung. With automatic precision he withdraws a +handful, and strews it into the furrows open to receive it. So long as +he continues in the same track his labour will be well performed, and +hence his task is just as monotonous as that of his fellow-worker +higher up in the field. The silhouetting of these two figures against +the light is symbolical of the labour to be expended in life before +results are forthcoming. + +From these remarks it will be seen that in considering the works of +Millet, one must not judge him from the standpoint of a mere painter. +His brush is only the means to an end, and by its means he is enabled +to bring the fruits of his philosophic observation before us in +permanent form. It has been charged against the "Angelus" that it was +not a remarkably fine piece of painting, that many a young artist of +the present generation is infinitely better equipped, technically +speaking, than the master who wrought this celebrated canvas. This may +in a measure be true, but it must never be forgotten that Millet +brought into play exactly the means which could illustrate his meaning +in the clearest terms. He had not intended, in painting such a +picture, to produce a work which would astonish his fellow artists +with its brilliancy of handling or magnificence of colour. He wanted +to make the beholder forget the painter and absorb the lesson. This +quality runs right through the art of Millet, and it is from this +standpoint that we are obliged to weigh his merits. + + + + +II + +MILLET'S EARLY LIFE + + +Jean François Millet was born on October 4, 1814, that is at the +period when French art, at any rate as far as landscape painting is +concerned, had reached its lowest ebb. Throughout the eighteenth +century the landscape painter had been hard put to make a living. The +taste of connoisseurs throughout the century had been for portraits +and interiors, or for those numerous pastoral subjects which were +carried out with so much decorative charm by such men as Watteau and +Boucher. Such landscape painting as existed was of the type +popularised by Vernet; it was built upon a curious mixture of Italian +influence coming from Panini and Salvator Rosa. The only evidence of +revolt against such a state of affairs we find in the works of Hubert +Robert and Moreau. These two, and more especially would I direct the +reader's attention to the latter, struggled hard to break down the +conventionalities of the time. They endeavoured to infuse some sense +of atmosphere into their pictures, and whilst frequently their trees +and figures are painfully formal, they yet stand alone in the French +school as the pioneers of a phase of art which was to attain its +zenith in the middle of the nineteenth century. + +But after the Revolution, and during the whole of the time that France +was under the domination of Napoleon, very rigid principles indeed +were enforced with regard to the direction that art should take. The +innovation which had its commencement in the reign of Louis XVI. swept +everything before it as it gained force. Classical art and traditions +dominated the whole French school, and no artist, however great his +reputation, attempted for many years to swim against the stream. In +spite of the principles of liberty and equality which were claimed for +all under the new _régime_, a terribly strict eye was kept upon any +innovations which might break out in the form of a naturalistic art. +The directors of this new movement failed to see that the conditions +which had produced the great Greek and Roman sculptors had passed +away, and that the latter's supremacy was due to the fact that their +productions were symbolical of the loftiest thoughts of their own +epoch. The art which expresses the ambitions and noblest thoughts of +its time will alone endure. These expressions are not applicable to +any other condition than those which called them forth, and hence in +attempting to purify the rococo which had existed up to the middle of +the eighteenth century, by a return to classical traditions, they were +only copying that which their predecessors had done, and in so doing +left us without any original expression of their own time. + +Into such a condition of affairs was Millet born, and he was numbered +amongst that little band of men which included Rousseau, Corot, Dupré, +Diaz, and Daumier, who were to lay the foundations of the modern +naturalistic school. At the outset it was seemingly a hopeless +struggle they undertook; a struggle against prejudice and influence +which was only to be brought to a victorious culmination after years +of struggle and disappointment. Of this little band, Millet was +perhaps the best equipped for the privations which were necessary. He +came of a peasant stock who inhabited Gruchy, a small village +situated in the commune of Gréville, close to Cherbourg. Grouped +underneath the humble roof was the grandmother, who had been left a +widow fifteen years before; her son, Jean Louis Nicolas Millet, and +his wife and eight children, of which our artist was the second. His +grandmother appears to have been a pious old lady, whose chief delight +was in her grandchildren, to whom she taught those religious +principles which stood them in good stead in after life. We are told +that Millet's father possessed a force of character one does not often +find amongst men in his rank of life. He was of a contemplative +disposition, and had a keenly developed feeling for natural beauty. He +possessed moreover a keen appreciation of music, which unfortunately +he does not appear to have had much opportunity of cultivating. His +wife was an excellent housewife and of a religious turn of mind. The +house they occupied, situated quite a short distance from the sea, was +placed in a tract of country which, whilst it had rugged and +picturesque features, was not of a nature which would yield +extraordinary results under cultivation. It was, therefore, a hard +struggle for existence which Millet in his first years saw going +on around him. Not that the family were any the less happy for having +to work laboriously for their livelihood. They had been brought up +amidst such surroundings; their wants were simple and easily +gratified, and the tranquillity of the _ménage_ more than +counterbalanced those doubtful luxuries which easier circumstances +would have brought their way. Throughout his life Millet maintained +the extreme simplicity he had seen practised in the home of his +childhood, and long years afterwards he was accustomed to look back +with pleasureable memories upon his early years. + + [Illustration: PLATE IV.--THE GLEANERS + + (In the Louvre) + + One of the most popular pictures of the master, and by many + considered his masterpiece. We know that this work involved an + unusually large amount of thought and work on the part of the + artist. Separate studies exist of all the figures in many + different poses. Not the least wonderful part is the background, + with its crowd of harvesters, enveloped in the golden sunlight + of a warm summer afternoon. "The Gleaners" is one of the best + preserved of the large canvases of Millet.] + +Gruchy, situated in one of the wildest parts of Normandy, feels the +full effect of every storm which blows up from the Atlantic. There is +nothing to shelter the exposed hamlets studded along the coast from +the fury of the western gale, and the rocks are but too often strewn +with the wrecks of vessels which have come to grief in that terrible +sea. Millet in his youth must have witnessed many of these +catastrophes. Quite a number of drawings by him are extant +representing succour being extended to some vessel in difficulties, or +the hauling up of some wreckage on to the rocks. The studious boy +must have been impressed as he saw the sternness of the combat in his +native country between men and nature; the wind-swept fields, and +hills bare to the point of savageness. The very trees themselves +dwarfed and gnarled; in their struggle with the elements they have +been made tough and hardy as the inhabitants of the country +themselves, and, stunted as they are, yet show well that they can +resist the force of the fiercest storm. The brooding and contemplative +character of the father having descended to the son, we can quite +imagine the effect such surroundings would have upon him. As he looked +back in after years upon his roamings in his native country, he +appreciated the awe-inspiring character of the scenery in which he had +been born. He would doubtless recall many a walk amidst the fields +with the wind blowing in his face as it rushed in from the Atlantic, +the rain beating hard upon the freshly ploughed fields, and the +distant figure of the ploughman struggling hard with his team against +the stiff sou'wester. The great mass of vapour overhead whirled before +the violence of the storm, casting grey and pearly light over the +whole scene, whilst far away on the top of the hill a clump of trees, +bent with their resistance to the wind, are silhouetted against the +sky. Many a drawing of this kind we encounter in the later work of +Millet, which shows how his thoughts harked back in certain moments to +the scenes he had left behind him for ever. + +We know that on one or two occasions he returned to Gruchy. Once or +twice he had urgent business which took him back, but sometimes he +went with no other purpose than to renew acquaintance with the scenes +of yore. + +Little Jean François was his grandmother's favourite. It was she who +taught him the names of things which surrounded him, and perhaps +directed his thoughts in the channels to which they were finally to be +devoted. Her brother Charles, who formed one of the family, used to +take him for walks, telling him stories on the way. Millet was +devotedly attached to this old man, and when at the age of seven years +he lost him, the gap in his life thus left made an impression upon his +memory never to be effaced. + +Five years afterwards he was placed in the hands of the vicar for the +purpose of preparing him for his first communion. The good man seems +to have been taken with the child; he found him so attentive to all +natural phenomenon which was passing around him and intelligent in an +unusual degree. He quickly learnt a considerable amount of Latin, +which introduced him to the great classics. Unfortunately for Millet, +the vicar accepted an offer of transference to a better parish in the +vicinity. The boy had made such progress with his master that it was +decided that he should go with him to his new abode. He was, however, +so missed in his own home, that when he came back for his first +holidays it was decided that he should not return. + +He now gave serious attention to the agricultural pursuits of his +father. He threw himself heartily into the work of the farm, and +assisted in the work of sowing and harvesting, of pruning and +thrashing according to the season. His spare time was occupied in +reading with avidity various masterpieces of literature. The authors +he found at hand were such as Fénélon and Bossuet, but he developed a +decided preference, which lasted till the end of his life, for Virgil +and the Bible. + +It was at this time that his taste for art began to be developed. +He drew the objects he found around him, and soon acquired sufficient +confidence in his skill to execute a large drawing representing two +shepherds keeping guard over their sheep. These first efforts date +from about his seventeenth year, and foretell the advent of the style +in which he was later to become pre-eminent. + + [Illustration: PLATE V.--THE STRAW-BINDERS + + (In the Louvre) + + The wonderful capacity of Millet for portraying action is + demonstrated to the full in this canvas. Hard, unremitting toil + is the theme Millet has wished to bring before us. The heat is + intense, but the work goes on with unrelaxing vigour. The + masculine energy of the two bending figures are in striking + contrast with the figure of the young girl on the left of the + picture. The artist shows that he was quite capable of infusing + charm into his peasant studies as well as bringing the + brutalising aspect of their labour before the spectator.] + + + + +III + +THE MIGRATION TO PARIS + + +How frequently has it happened that the first years in the life of a +genius have been employed in labour quite different from that to which +they should have been directed. Such a state of affairs the more often +occurs when the sense of duty has been strong enough to overcome +temporarily the inclination to pursue the natural bent. In the case of +Millet, however, the early years which he devoted to the farm and its +pursuits were by no means wasted. It is on record that he became very +proficient in the various duties in which he was engaged, but at the +same time we can be quite sure that his extraordinary faculties of +observation were constantly being brought into play, and the fruits of +his observations are to be seen in the pictures of his mature period. + +A considerable portion of his spare time was taken up with drawing, +not only the persons and objects he found around him, but also +subjects suggested to him by the books he was in the habit of reading. +His family, so far from throwing any obstacles in his way, encouraged +him. In fact it was his father who took him first to Cherbourg in +order to show a painter of that town, named Mouchel, the early +products of his son's genius. The decision at which Millet _père_ had +arrived was prompted by a drawing in charcoal of an old peasant +walking along the road, which had struck him forcibly as being a work +of extraordinary merit. It says much for Mouchel's breadth of mind +that he was equally impressed with the drawings. A man who had been +brought up in the school of David, and who had lived in one of the +most reactionary periods of French art, was hardly to be expected to +take kindly to a style so diametrically opposed to all the traditions +into which he himself had been inculcated; certainly the young +Millet, who had now arrived at the age of eighteen, had not developed +the extraordinary freedom which his works of ten years later +demonstrate. But there was sufficient originality even in his early +drawings to call forth condemnation from a man who had been so +saturated with the teaching of David. + +He prevailed upon Millet to leave his son with him, and set him to +work to copy many well-known works of art which he brought before his +pupil by means of engravings. Two months were spent in this way when +news reached Millet that his father had been seized with sudden +illness, and he was obliged in the circumstances to return to +Gréville. He arrived to find the old man unconscious, and very shortly +afterwards he died. + +This misfortune awoke in Millet a sense of duty which compelled him to +desert his studies in Cherbourg and superintend the management of the +farm. For some time he devoted himself entirely to his new duties, but +the struggle betwixt duty and genius continued; he gave himself to his +work with all the energy at his disposal, but his thoughts were ever +wandering to his art. + +Added to his own inclinations, his grandmother, who perceived his +extraordinary gifts, strongly persuaded him to devote his attention +entirely to art, and consequently after some little time he decided to +return to Cherbourg. Here he entered the studio of M. Langlois, an +artist whose reputation in the town was considerable. Again in this +worthy man he came in contact with a painter who had been brought up +entirely under classical influence. Langlois, who had in his early +days been a pupil of Gros, had absorbed the classical tradition to +such an extent as to be incapable of appreciating any other style. He +appears to have endeavoured to mould Millet in his own method rather +than develop the latent genius which the latter possessed. The +incompatibility of these two men speedily caused the younger to strike +out in his own way. He saw more good in frequenting the museums and +making copies of such works as appealed to him than in listening to +the advice of his teacher. All this occurred, however, without any +breach of friendship occurring. On the contrary, Langlois, after +perceiving the futility of inducing his pupil to follow in his +footsteps, did all he could to advance his interests. + +By means of his influence some of Millet's drawings were brought +before the Municipal Council, and Langlois suggested that Millet +should be sent to Paris in order to further his development, and that +the Council should set aside a modest pension to meet his requirements +in that city. The discussion appears to have been very prolonged, and +upon the question being put to a vote it was only carried by means of +the casting vote of the mayor. Four hundred francs was at first +allotted to him in this way, which was further increased shortly +afterwards to six hundred. Such encouragement, meagre though it was, +was sufficient to give him a foothold in the metropolis. He left +Cherbourg in January 1837, on a cold and raw day, the snow falling +heavily throughout the entire journey, and arrived in Paris in a very +disheartened condition. The miserable weather, coupled with the long +journey in which he had had time to think of the small sum which lay +between him and starvation, going to a city which he had never seen +before, had all served to work upon his nerves, and he entered the +great city sick at heart and very despondent. + +One of the first visits he made after he was somewhat settled down in +Paris was to the Louvre. Here he was brought into contact for the +first time with many masters, who were to mould his yet plastic +temperament into the form which enabled him to give to the world, in +later years, so many masterpieces. As I have said before, it was +Mantegna who first captivated him, and the influence of the mighty +Paduan was never finally to be shaken off. Michel Angelo awed him with +his sublimity; his classical severity tempered with intense humanism, +his masculine strength, were bound to have their effect upon so +serious a character as Millet. Strange as it may seem to those who are +but superficially acquainted with his art, and are only too apt to +judge him by the influence he has had upon modern French painting, he +was fascinated with the antique. The traditions of Phidias and +Praxiteles, in the form in which they had been transmitted through the +greatest minds of the Renaissance, were ever the factors which guided +him throughout his career. It was this same spirit which impelled his +fervid admiration for Nicolas Poussin, a master who to-day is sadly +underrated and but little understood. It was the mysteries of line, +the wonders of pose and composition rather than the magic of colour +which appealed to him. He had a profound admiration for the glowing +canvases of Titian and Rubens, but he could never overlook entirely +their defects of drawing or, in the case of Rubens, the tendency to +vulgarity. From his remarks in after years it would appear that he was +baffled with the mysticisms of Velazquez and Rembrandt; pure painting +itself could never hold him. He needed to grasp the message which lay +behind it before he felt fully taken into the confidence of the +painter; and as the minds of the Dutchman and the Spaniard ran in +quite different channels to his own, they spoke with a language he +never understood. That he had a perceptive and critically independent +mind may be gauged from his enthusiasm for Delacroix, whose work he +encountered for the first time at the Luxembourg. + +During this period of study he was carefully considering under what +master he should place himself. His choice unhappily fell upon +Delaroche. To any one acquainted with the work of the latter master, +a more unsuitable selection could not have been made. Delaroche and +the painters who surrounded him can be appropriately described as +constituting the back-wash of the Empire style, which had reached its +climax with David. His subjects were always treated with academic +reserve. No pyrotechnics were permitted; on the contrary, an +everlasting and mistaken striving for finish was encouraged: +originality was sternly suppressed. To paint human life as it really +was, was too vulgar for any of the painters of this time. They held +the public taste enslaved for years. An innovator such as Millet was +destined to become found his position almost untenable. The band of +critics and painters formed a monopoly which it seemed almost +impossible to break down, and it was only after years of bitter and +determined struggle that the school of nature finally routed its +opponent. + +Delaroche doubtlessly found the peasant painter a little rude both in +his person and in his ideas about art. He paid but little attention to +the young man who had placed himself in his hands, and devoted all his +time to students who were more amenable to his influence. A +temperament so sensitive as Millet's was bound to notice this +neglect, and consequently after a time he became so discouraged that +he ceased to frequent Delaroche's studio. Another very good reason for +this action was the lack of resources to continue his payments. Even +during the time he had been with Delaroche he lost no opportunity of +turning a few honest francs by painting the portraits of any who could +be got to sit to him. Delaroche, however, had a more kindly heart than +Millet imagined. He seems to have found out the real distress of the +young artist, and to have assisted him pecuniarily in many ways, and +there is no doubt that he appreciated the talent of the young Norman +much more than he cared to own. Many of his remarks on record would +serve to show that Delaroche already felt that his pupil was destined +to be one of the leaders of the movement which was finally to +overthrow his own style, and doubtlessly felt a great admiration for a +man who had the courage and strength to swim against rather than with +the current. + + [Illustration: PLATE VI.--SPRING + + (In the Louvre) + + It is probable that Millet wished this picture to be regarded + rather as a symbolical representation of Spring, than as an + actual study from Nature. The storm that has just passed over + has been severe, but of short duration. The sun, breaking + through the dense banks of clouds, reveals the splendours of the + water-sodden landscape; the apple-trees full of bloom, the + verdantly green grass, the young foliage on the distant trees, + all reveal the benefit they have received from the downpour.] + + + + +IV + +THE STRUGGLE FOR RECOGNITION + + +Freed from all encumbrances save poverty, Millet was now to work out +his own destiny according to the dictates of his genius. He joined a +friend named Marolle, and the two together occupying a very small +apartment endeavoured to eke out an existence. It was only too soon +apparent that young as he was, and the taste of the public being not +yet ready for development upon the lines his genius directed him, that +his livelihood could not be secured by endeavouring to sell such +subjects as appealed to him. In these straits he turned to +portrait-painting, just as many great painters before and since him +have done. That the struggle was very keen can well be imagined by the +fact that he was unable to obtain more than five to ten francs apiece; +and, as commissions were very scarce, he was hard put to gain the +means of subsistence. This state of affairs lasted until 1840, in +which year he endeavoured to obtain admission to the Salon with two +portraits, one of which was that of his friend. This, however, was +rejected, and the other picture, although accepted, was unnoticed by +either the critics or the public. + +Having occasion the next year to pay a visit to Cherbourg, he felt +obliged to report himself to the Municipal Council who had had the +generosity to send him in the first place to Paris. Its worthy members +expressed themselves as but little satisfied with the result of their +investment; they claimed that they had had as yet but little to show +for their money, and they suggested, partly as a means of +demonstrating that they had had some little return, and also, in order +to see of what stuff their _protégé_ was made, that he should paint a +portrait of the recently deceased mayor. As Millet had not been +personally acquainted with that worthy citizen, and as the only guide +which could be supplied him was a portrait made in miniature when he +was a young man of some twenty-three or twenty-four years of age, the +task was by no means easy. However, the artist set to work with a +will, and finally accomplished the picture to his own satisfaction. +Upon it being shown to the Council, one and all declared, as any one +with the slightest knowledge of such matters could have told them +before it was commenced, that it bore not the least resemblance to the +defunct magistrate. They therefore demurred at the three hundred +francs they had agreed to pay him for the portrait, and offered him +one-third of that amount instead. Millet was deeply offended by the +insult, and informed the Council that he made them a present of the +picture. + +It was during this short visit to his native country that he met his +first wife, a Mlle. Ono, whose portrait he had painted. From the first +she was very delicate, and he lost her after much suffering, three +years later. His second wife was Mlle. Catherine Lemaire, who was +destined to be the companion of his struggles until the end of his +life. + +Meanwhile Millet was occupied with subjects which he thought would +appeal to the general public. A number of classical pictures date from +this epoch. It was an endeavour on his part to fall in as far as +possible with the current taste, and so supply means of subsistence +for his family. At the same time he did not neglect his favourite +subjects, and many are the wonderful studies of peasant life which +date from these years. His reputation had so far advanced that he was +offered the position of teacher of drawing in the college at +Cherbourg. It must have been only after prolonged deliberation that he +refused the proffered post. Here a certain annual stipend was assured +him, and if it was not large in itself it would at any rate suffice to +keep the wolf from the door. He preferred, however, to return to Paris +and work out his own destiny as best he might. + +Millet, who lived at this time in the Rue Rochechouart, began to +surround himself with that little group of friends who remained +faithful to him until the end of his career. Amongst the earliest were +Charles Jacque and Diaz: the latter had several clients amongst the +small dealers, whom he induced to visit Millet's studio and make now +and again a small purchase. + +Millet now became a fairly regular contributor to the Salon, but +generally sent some classical or religious picture as well as one of +his peasant subjects. For example, in 1848 he sent the marvellous +study of "The Winnower," which we all know so well, accompanied by a +canvas, "The Captivity of the Jews at Babylon." The latter, however, +was so badly received that he utilised the canvas upon its return for +a large picture of a "Shepherdess tending her Sheep." + +In spite of the headway that he was making, the struggle for existence +seemed keener than ever, and but for the kindness of friends he and +his family would frequently have actually wanted for food. A timely +advance of one hundred francs obtained for him from the Minister of +Fine Arts, together with a commission from the State, for which he was +paid the sum of eighteen hundred francs, were for some time the only +relief he obtained from his embarrassments. That he was not particular +as to how he earned his daily bread is apparent from the fact that he +did not despise an order for a shop sign for a midwife, for which he +was paid the miserable amount of thirty francs. + +The year 1848 was not an encouraging one for a painter who was +standing on the threshold of his career. The whole of Europe was +seething with revolution. A repetition of the fearful year of 1792 was +everywhere expected. The struggle betwixt reaction and property on the +one hand, and lawlessness and revolution on the other, was being waged +with grim determination. The issue was for long in the balance. One +never knew from one day to another what was going to happen. In such a +deplorable state of affairs men's minds were running on politics and +wars rather than upon art. Millet amongst the rest was called upon to +shoulder the musket, and it can be easily imagined with what +reluctance he did so. + +Paris, the great centre of art, had yet not afforded him much +encouragement. Life was dear in the big city, and surrounded on all +sides by bricks and mortar he was not free to go out into the fields +and study the objects which were uppermost in his mind. He resolved to +escape from it, and once having put the plan into execution he never +returned. + + + + +V + +MILLET IN HIS MATURITY + + +The Barbizon of 1850 was a very different place from the Barbizon of +to-day. The world fame of the men who passed a quiet and strenuous +existence in the little village has transformed it into a tourist +resort, with restaurants and cafés, the stopping-places for +waggonettes which in summer bring their daily load of sightseers, +eager to see the homes of the painters whose names are now household +words. + +It would have been well-nigh impossible for the little band to have +chosen a more suitable spot for their labours. Rousseau and Millet, +much as they were drawn towards each other by the tie of a sympathetic +disposition and by their common interest in art, yet were widely +dissimilar from one another in their outlook upon art and their +methods of worship at the common shrine. Rousseau--one can see it from +every picture he painted--loved with all the yearning of a passionate +and restless temperament the inanimate in Nature. Observe with what +fidelity he draws his trees, with what caressing tenderness his clouds +and skies are treated; solitude appealed to him above all things, and +if here and there he was obliged to insert a few figures to complete +his composition, one instinctively feels that he would rather have +substituted a group of cattle or a flock of sheep. In the glades of +the forest, far from the busy haunts of men, with the glorious +sunlight penetrating from above, the breeze moaning through the +branches, he was happy. A wild and turbulent temperament such as his +not infrequently discovers exquisite enjoyment amidst such perfect +tranquillity. + + [Illustration: PLATE VII.--THE SAWYERS + + (In the South Kensington Museum) + + Very few of Millet's works can rival this superb picture in + vigour of handling and magic of line. He has succeeded in + infusing an enormous amount of energy into the two figures, + without sacrificing refinement. The absolute stillness of the + wood beyond is unbroken, save by the monotonous hacking of the + wood-cutter, who, axe in hand, is making a determined onslaught + upon a venerable tree. As an example of Millet's powers as a + painter it would be hard to beat, and in it he has preserved + those rare qualities of freedom and rhythm of line we find in + his best drawings.] + +Barbizon, situated on the fringe of the great forest of Fontainebleau, +therefore, permitted Rousseau to come into daily contact with the +scenes which so appealed to him. + +Millet, on the other hand, was absorbed in the peasant. The man who +tilled the soil and raised the produce humanity requires for its +subsistence by the sweat of his brow; the manifold duties of the +labourer, his life and sorrows, appealed to him with irresistible +force. An unpeopled track of wild and uncultivated land would not call +forth any emotion in him, no matter how sublime the scenery might be. +The life of the village, spreading itself into the vast and fertile +plain behind, held him absorbed; a peasant himself and living amongst +the people he so loved, he was in a position to bring before an +unthinking world the poignant monotony of their useful lives. + +Upon their first arrival at Barbizon, the two artists put up at a +small inn, working all day in a tiny place they had rented from some +peasants and fitted up as a studio. The inconveniences of this +arrangement were soon apparent, and shortly afterwards Millet took a +small house which was destined to be his abode for the remainder of +his life; an old barn in the immediate vicinity meanwhile provided him +with an excellent studio. + +From this period onward we must date the greatest productions of the +master, the works which have induced more thought than those of any +other peasant painter. A peasant among peasants, his life was of the +most rigid simplicity. Behind his little abode a large garden +stretched away almost to the fringe of the forest itself, and here he +was accustomed to work every morning, growing a portion of the food +necessary to the sustenance of his family. The afternoon he devoted to +painting, whilst the evening was given over to intercourse with his +little circle of friends. The simplicity and tranquillity of his life +aroused the whole of his powers to action, and surrounded with +everything he valued in life he was supremely happy. + +The country around Barbizon appealed to him irresistibly. The +timber-studded plains, the gently undulating, highly cultivated +fields, presented a strange contrast to the wild and rugged country +amidst which he had spent his childhood, and no doubt conduced to the +development of a more refined and contemplative style than he would +otherwise have acquired. Upon his few visits to his native country he +appears to have been more impressed than ever with its austerity, and +the drawings which these journeys called forth bore ample evidence of +this feeling in him. + +Lack of the necessary funds to carry on even his simple _ménage_ was +ever the bane of Millet's life. On many occasions Sensier, his +intimate friend and afterwards his biographer, informs us he dissuaded +him from suicide. + +The sums that he owed, small though they were, rendered him in +constant fear of the brokers. With creditors so importunate in their +demands for satisfaction, and with the constant lack of recognition, +which was his lot, it is astonishing that Millet achieved so much. He +was relieved more than once by the kind-hearted and ever faithful +Rousseau, who when his friend was sorest pressed found some delicately +hidden means to relieve him. It was he who acquired for 4000 francs +the wonderful "Peasant grafting a Tree," when the picture failed to +find a purchaser; and in order that Millet should not be aware of his +generosity, he made the offer in the name of an imaginary American. +This sort of goodness he repeated more than once, and it redounds +still more to his credit when we remember that Rousseau himself was +not infrequently in pecuniary difficulties. + +A constant succession of important works made their appearance during +the first ten years Millet spent at Barbizon. The first was the +well-known "Sower," which has ever been one of the most popular of his +pictures. Then came the far finer "Peasants going to Work," which for +many years was in an English Collection. The "Gleaners," perhaps the +noblest canvas the master ever painted, dates from 1857, in which year +it was seen at the Salon; the celebrated "Angelus" followed it two +years later. The prices which Millet obtained for this series of +remarkable works was fantastically small. The "Gleaners" brought him a +paltry 2000 francs, whilst he accounted himself lucky to encounter an +amateur who gave him the same sum for the small "Woman feeding Fowls." +The "Angelus," which was never exhibited, was sold in the year it was +painted to a Monsieur Feydeau, an architect, for 1800 francs. It then +passed through several hands before the late Monsieur Secrétan +competed up to 160,000 francs before he became possessed of the prize +at the John Wilson sale. + +The purchase, however, proved a sound investment, for upon the +dispersal of his collection it was knocked down for 553,000 francs to +a Monsieur Proust, acting on behalf of the French Government. The +latter, however, when they gave the commission to buy the picture, had +no idea that such a high value would be placed upon it, and +consequently refused to ratify the sale; a syndicate now came upon the +scene, who took it to America. The price, however, proved greater than +even the millionaires of the States were prepared to give, and the +canvas again returned to France, where it found a resting-place in the +collection of Monsieur Chauchard, who paid the enormous sum of 800,000 +francs for its possession. + +In 1859 Millet sent two works to the Salon, a "Woman grazing her Cow," +and "Death and the Woodman." The latter, one of the most +philosophical of Millet's pictures, which to-day is the principal +attraction of the Jacobsen Museum at Copenhagen, was rejected. +Disappointments of this kind came with such systematic regularity to +the painter that he must have become proof against them. He always had +bitter enemies amongst the critics, who never failed to pour abuse +upon his method and his subjects. Even a number of his fellow artists +joined in the chorus of disapproval. But the vehemence with which he +was attacked was striking evidence of the impression he was making and +the inward sense of his own powers; and the fact that he was working +out his destiny according to the dictates of his own genius supported +him against this outpouring of prejudice and malice. The social side +of life appealed to him more strongly as the years rolled on, and the +murmurings which had been heard in 1859 as to the socialistic +tendencies of "Death and the Woodman" swelled to a roar when the +stupendous "Man with the Hoe" was exhibited fourteen years later. The +latter, one of the most virile studies of depraved humanity which the +world has ever seen, has always been a favourite with social +reformers, and has inspired one remarkable poem. Even his most +implacable critics were disarmed before this canvas; its power was +magnetic; it was an inspiration, soul moving and trenchant. + +His financial difficulties never completely dispersed. At one time, in +order to insure himself a little tranquillity, he made a contract with +two speculators, whereby they were to become possessors of all the +work he produced for three years, in consideration of their assuring +him a thousand francs a month. A great number of Millet's finest +productions passed thus through their hands, including the "Return +from the Fields" and the "Man with the Hoe." The partners were not +long in quarrelling, and after a lawsuit had been fought, Millet was +left in the hands of a man who frequently would not or could not pay +him in ready money, and whose bills he was frequently forced to +discount at considerable loss. + +One little gleam of sunshine rendered his later days happy. This was a +commission from a Colmar banker, Monsieur Thomas by name, who required +four allegorical compositions representing the Seasons, to decorate +his rooms. The artist was overjoyed by this piece of good fortune, +and immediately commenced a most conscientious study of such mural +decoration as was within reach, in order that he might do full justice +to his patron. He paid frequent visits to Fontainebleau and the +Louvre, and even desired a friend to inquire if he could not obtain +reproductions of the frescoes at Herculaneum and Pompeii. In spite of +all this elaborate preparation, the subjects were not such as appealed +to his genius, and in spite of them being well and soundly painted, we +are told that they presented no features which called for special +comment. + +He found, however, a much more genial occupation in accomplishing a +series of drawings ordered by a Monsieur Gavet, who paid the artist +1000, 700, and 450 francs each, according to their size. He made +altogether ninety-five drawings in this way, and it is said that this +gentleman had in his possession the finest work in black and white and +water-colour the artist ever executed. + +Towards the latter end of his life the death of dear relatives and +friends cast a sorrowful gloom over him. Amongst the latter Rousseau, +who expired in his presence on the 22nd of December 1867, was +perhaps the loss which seemed to him hardest to bear. A staunch and +trusty friend, who was to be relied upon when his prospects seemed the +most hopeless, he had been one of the very few who had appreciated +Millet's talents at their full worth, and who, moreover, scanty as his +own means were, was ever ready to stretch out his hand to assist his +struggling friend. + + [Illustration: PLATE VIII.-THE SHEEP-FOLD + + (In the Glasgow Corporation Art Galleries) + + The poetry of moonlight has never been better realised than by + Millet. The lonely watch of the shepherd, the huddling together + of the sheep, the dreary mystical plain stretching away to the + horizon, losing itself finally in the vaporous atmosphere of the + chilly night, are all rendered with astonishing fidelity. It is + in such works as these that the master reveals his sympathy with + the solitude of many phases of peasant life.] + +Shortly afterwards Millet paid a visit to his patron, Herr Hartmann, +at Münster, and from here he went for a short time into Switzerland. +Upon his return he devoted himself with great earnestness to work, and +achieved a certain success at the Salons with his exhibits. The +outbreak of the war with Germany caused him to migrate with his family +to Cherbourg, where he thought he might continue to work, removed as +far as possible from the scenes of carnage and struggle which were +going on farther east. Transported once more amongst the scenes of his +childhood, he felt an increased impetus to production, and when he +returned to Barbizon late in 1871, he brought with him a number of +canvases of the highest quality; conspicuous amongst them was the +wonderful "Gréville Church," now in the Louvre. + +The anxieties of his troublous life were, however, beginning to show +their effect upon his constitution; a persistent cough developed, and +although an amelioration would occasionally occur, it was always +succeeded by a worse condition than before. His health suffered a +general decline, and he finally breathed his last on the 20th of +January 1875. He was buried in the little cemetery of Chailly, beside +his friend Rousseau, amidst the scenery they both loved so well. + + + + +VI + +THE MAN AND HIS ART + + +Millet is an instance of an artist working out his own destiny, +impelled by irresistible genius, in the teeth of seemingly +insurmountable obstacles. He started life with enormous disadvantages; +without friends in influential circles to spread his fame or plead his +cause; without money to enable him to outlive and triumph over the +ignorant fanaticism of critics and artists, so soaked in the +conventionalised art of their time that they had not perception enough +to appreciate the full meaning of that naturalistic movement, which +was finally to sweep away the quasi-classic art they boasted of with +such bombastic effusion. The path was hard and thorny, and his triumph +was not finally consummated until after his death. He himself found +his only satisfaction in the fact that he had lived his life according +to the dictates of his genius, and had achieved the maximum of which +he was capable. + +Millet and our own Cotman were somewhat kindred spirits; there is much +more affinity between the work of the two men than is apparent to any +one who has not closely studied them. The marvellous "Breaking the +Clod," now happily permanently housed at the British Museum, betrays +the same tremendous conception and broad outlook which characterises +many a drawing of Millet's. Both highly strung to a painful extent, +they were each conscious of their inability to curb the power which +prescribed a certain course for them, and in spite of pecuniary +difficulties and unpopularity, an inevitable result of their intense +originality, they pursued a steady course to the end of their lives. + +The socialistic doctrines which have been read into the work of Millet +are rather the outcome of the world's uneasy conscience being brought +face to face with a crushing indictment of existing conditions, than +of any design on the artist's part to further the cause of a political +propaganda by means of his art. This somewhat extravagant reading into +his art has certainly been carried to excess. Particularly has such +been the case in America, where a large number of his finest works are +at present to be found, curiously enough in the hands of enormously +wealthy people, who are frequently perhaps the least able to +understand the real meaning of his message. + +Coming from a peasant stock, his sympathies were always with the +peasant; it was the only class he understood or cared for. He lived as +one of them, and shared to a large extent in their labour. He has been +designated, not inappropriately, the philosopher in sabots. Rightly or +wrongly he has come to be looked upon as one of the high priests of +communistic doctrines. Few pictures have been so anathematised as the +"Man with the Hoe," and perhaps none have done more to inculcate +sympathy with the degradation of the lower orders of the human race. +The revolting brutality and vacancy of that face haunts the +imagination. Is it possible that fellow-creatures so utterly debased +by toil and neglect exist? Millet dispels any doubt upon the question +by bequeathing to humanity this trenchant portrait. By no means +limited to Barbizon or France, these poor creatures exist in every +country, and curiously enough are considered an essential element in +each country's development. + +This poignantly human note is observable in almost every work Millet +wrought; his passionate sympathy with his fellow-man is the keynote of +his art. The wood-cutter in his arduous toil, the shepherd in his +solitariness, the labourer turning the soil with unvarying and +laborious monotony, the mother caring for her children--all carry the +same message for him of that strange and incomprehensible mingling of +joy and sadness we call life. Like many great minds before and since +his time, our artist found the greatest joy in life in a placid and +never changing melancholy. But the peasants he chose knew nothing of +the sadness he saw in them. Completely inured to their toil, and +subdued by it, with no refining or uplifting influence to stimulate +them, they knew nothing, aspired to nothing beyond what they were; it +was left to Millet to supply the "might have been." He saw the inky +blackness of the mind of the "Man with the Hoe," the pathetic +inequality between the mounted farmer directing the safe storage of +his crop, and the stooping figures of the "Gleaners" eager to scrape +up the miserable crumbs which had fallen from the rich man's table. He +traced the lives of these simple folk until we arrive at the grim and +gaunt figure of Death, who, as he grasps the woodman by the shoulder, +reminds him that his course is finished and that he, in common with +all his fellow-men, must enter the great unknown land from which there +is no return. It is a sad and melancholy art, vibrating with purity +and truth, the outpouring of a great soul yearning to express itself +to the utmost of its power. The mind and character of the man can be +read in every line and in every touch of the brush. His drawings and +etchings are even more searching in their virility than his pictures. +There is a spontaneousness about them we search for in vain in his +work in oil and pastel. In black and white his intensely emotional +mind found a swift method of expression; in the laboriousness of oil +painting he was fettered with the complications of the medium. It can +be fairly said that only in one or two paintings--a notable example +can be cited in the wondrous "Sawyers" at South Kensington--does he +rise to the height of a great painter. Millet was a poet, a +philosopher, a great thinker, and the means he chose for expressing +himself were those which were best fitted to his purpose. His +predilections in art were concentrated upon the greatest, and +consequently the men who appealed to him were the thinkers of the +ages. Mantegna and Correggio, Michel Angelo and the mighty Greeks, +these were the masters who left their impress upon his mind and art. + +The influence of so sincere and profound an artist has necessarily +been profound. He has moulded men who have achieved world-wide fame; +Segantini, for example, would never have risen to the heights he did +had the example of Millet not been ever before him. There have been +many who, without possessing his genius, have endeavoured to follow +in his footsteps, but successfully as his imitators have sometimes +caught his style, their productions can never live alongside his, +because they lack the real ring of sincerity. + + +The plates are printed by BEMROSE & SONS, LTD., Derby and London + +The text at the BALLANTYNE PRESS, Edinburgh + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43068 *** |