\paperw5490 \margr0\margl0 \plain \fs20 \f1 French painter. \par
The son of prosperous peasants, Jean-Franτois Millet commenced his artistic studies at Cherbourg in 1833. In 183
7 he won a scholarship and went to Paris, where he was a pupil of Paul Delaroche and studied the old masters in the Louvre. He moved to the capital in 1845. In these early years of his activity, until 1848, he painted chiefly portraits and pictures of pa
storal and mythological subjects. In contact with HonorΘ Daumier, DuprΘ, and Troyon from 1847, he showed\i The Winnower\i0 at the Salon of 1848. This first painting of a peasant subject was greatly appreciated in revolutionary circles. In 1849 he moved
to Barbizon, where he remained for the rest of his life, apart from brief journeys. The importance that Millet assigned to the human figure set him apart from the painters of the Barbizon School, although he spent a great deal of time with them and shar
ed their interest in naturalism and rejection of chaotic city life. His exalting of the worker, the new hero that had emerged from the insurrections of 1848, combined with his deep understanding of peasant life, marked an important stage in the developme
nt of Realism, and had a direct influence on Courbet. His major works (\i The Sower\i0 , 1850, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts; \i The Gleaners\i0 , 1857, Paris, MusΘe dÆOrsay; \i Angelus\i0 , 1858-59, Paris, MusΘe dÆOrsay) are characterized by the powerfull
y sculptural modeling of the figures, a solemn atmosphere of ritual, and their sentimental, at times explicitly religious, late Romantic tones. After 1860 under the influence of his friend ThΘodore Rousseau, he devoted more attention to the landscape (
\i GrΘville Church\i0 , Paris, MusΘe dÆOrsay) and started to use the pastel technique, as well (\i Primrose\i0 , 1868, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts). Recent studies have revealed the important part played in MilletÆs work by drawings, some of them superior
in quality to the paintings with their luministic effects of great virtuosity and originality (\i Twilight\i0 , 1858-59, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts).\par
