McClures Magazine, Vol. VI., No. 6, May, 1896

McClure's Magazine, Vol. VI.,
No. 6, May, 1896

The Project Gutenberg EBook of McClure's Magazine, Vol. VI., No. 6,
May,
1896, by Various 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.net
Title: McClure's Magazine, Vol. VI., No. 6, May, 1896
Author: Various
Release Date: August 27, 2004 [EBook #13304]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK
MCCLURE'S MAGAZINE, VOL. ***

Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Sandra Brown and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team.

[Illustration: STUDY FROM NATURE. BY JEAN FRANÇOIS
MILLET.
Reproduced by permission of Braun, Clement & Co.]
[Illustration: MILLET'S COAT OF ARMS.
Reproduced by permission of Braun, Clement & Co. A facsimile of one
of the little drawings which Millet was accustomed to make for

acquaintances and collectors of autographs, and which he laughingly
called his "armes parlantes."]
[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF JEAN FRANÇOIS MILLET, DRAWN
BY HIMSELF.
Reproduced by permission of Braun, Clement & Co. Of this portrait,
drawn in 1847, Sensier, in his "Life" of Millet, says: "It is in crayon,
and life-sized. The head is melancholy, like that of Albert Dürer; the
profound regard is filled with intelligence and goodness."]

MCCLURE'S MAGAZINE.
VOL. VI.
MAY, 1896.
No. 6.

A CENTURY OF PAINTING.
JEAN FRANÇOIS MILLET.--PARENTAGE AND EARLY
INFLUENCES.--HIS LIFE AT BARBIZON.--VISITS TO MILLET IN
HIS STUDIO.--HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE.--HIS OWN
COMMENTS ON HIS PICTURES.--PASSAGES FROM HIS
CONVERSATION.
BY WILL H. LOW.
These papers, disclaiming any other authority than that which
appertains to the conclusions of a practising painter who has thought
deeply on the subject of his art, have nevertheless avoided the personal
equation as much as possible. A conscientious endeavor has been made
to consider the work of each painter in the place which has been
assigned him by the concensus of opinion in the time which has elapsed
since his work was done. In the consideration of Jean François Millet,
however, I desire for the nonce to become less impersonal, for the
reason that it was my privilege to know him slightly, and in the case of
one who as a man and as a painter occupies a place so entirely his own,
the value of recorded personal impressions is greater, at least for
purposes of record, than the registration of contemporary opinion
concerning him.
I must further explain that, as a young student who received at his
hands the kindly reception which the master, stricken in health, and

preoccupied with his work, vouchsafed, I could only know him
superficially. It may have been the spectacle of youthful enthusiasm, or
the modest though dignified recognition of the reverence with which I
approached him, that made this grave man unbend; but it is certain that
the few times when I was permitted to enter the rudely built studio at
Barbizon have remained red-letter days in my life, and on each
occasion I left Millet with an impression so strong and vital that now,
after a lapse of twenty years, the work which he showed me, and the
words which he uttered, are as present as though it all had occurred
yesterday. The reverence which I then felt for this great man was born
of his works, a few of which I had seen in 1873 in Paris; and their
constant study, and the knowledge of his life and character gained since
then, have intensified this feeling.
[Illustration: THE SHEEP-SHEARERS. FROM A PAINTING BY
JEAN FRANÇOIS MILLET.
Reproduced by permission of Braun, Clement & Co. A replica of
Millet's picture in the Salon of 1861, which is now owned by Mr.
Quincy Shaw, Boston, Massachusetts. Charles Jacque, who had
quarrelled with Millet, after seeing this picture, went to him and said:
"We cannot be friends; but I have come to say that you have painted a
masterpiece."]
Jean François Millet was born October 4, 1814, in the hamlet of
Gruchy, a mere handful of houses which lie in a valley descending to
the sea, in the department of the Manche, not far from Cherbourg. He
was the descendant of a class which has no counterpart in England or
America, and which in his native France has all but disappeared. The
rude forefathers of our country may have in a degree resembled the
French peasant of Millet's youth; but their Protestant belief made them
more independent in thought, and the problems of a new country, and
the lack of stability inherent to the colonist, robbed them of the
fanatical love of the earth, which is perhaps the strongest trait of the
peasant. Every inch of the ground up to the cliffs above the sea,