The latter work was to be sold 40 years later for the sensational price of 553,000 francs. T hough Flemish artists of the 17th century had depicted peasants at work, Millet was the first painter to endow rural life with a dignity and monumentality that transcend realism, making the peasant an almost heroic figure. He became somewhat of a symbol to younger artists, to whom he gave help and encouragement. It was he who, on a visit to Le Havre to paint portraits, encouraged Boudin to become an artist, and his work certainly influenced the young Monet, and even more decidedly Pissarro, who shared similar political inclinations. Often accused of socialism because of his chosen subject, he was recognized as an important and original artist only after his death.
Credit is attributed when known.
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