The Portland daily press., 1883-04-27

.ss=saaalua.y lauszrasea may number
Of the Magazine OF Art is paper on 'sSome
French Artists" from which is taken this
gossip concerning Millet and RegnauIts
The story of the struggles of Jean Fan
co.'s Millet would beIfound, perhaps, more pa
thetic than anything in the biography Of art.
were it not that the glory of his achieve
ments and his native nobility and courage
absorb all other thoughts. A Charming mic
ture is given by M. Claretie of Millet's home
life at Barbizon. 1t is a summer night and
the window is open; the family is assembled
about the lamp-iit table; the girls are knit
ting and sewing, and the boys are all atten-
ton while the father is reading aloud 10
them Beranger's songs, or the story of Ruth,
or some incident from the lives of the patri-
archs of Israel. This little sketch OF the
painter is thoroughly in harmony with ali
we know of the serenity and simplicity of
his mind. 1t was from no deficiency Of ge-
nlality, but from natural and habitual seri-
business that he was known In Delaroche's
studio as 'Phomme feroce.D This serious
ness originated in his
DEEP SYMPATHY
with that mute appeal, that '.cry OF the
ground" which many poets and some ar
fists have SO happily interpreted in their
landscapes.
He would speak tsays M. Claretiel with
indignation of artists s'who fatter bad taste
and depraved passions for their own profit.v
and who. in the words of Montaigne, "dr-
ttattsent Ia nature du leu de ndturaItser
Fart" Of his personal appearance NJ. SEN
sier gives us vivid idea from photograph
taken by one of his friends at Barbzon:
HE Is standing upright, In his sabots, with
his back to wall. the head erect and hair
thrown back, the body straigh, that In hand,
and his gaze fixed as on something menac-
ing. He might be taken for one of those en-
thusiastic peasants, the victim of our civil
wars, who, though conquered, faces death
without fear. This little portrait expresses
the whole life of Miles. He was pleased
with it himself when said to him, sYou
look as If you were peasant leader stand
ing to be shot, and be seemed almost proud
OF this Interpretation" His love of the
country was nothing less than second ma
ture. There is beautiful passage In one Of
his letters in which he relates how, on the
day after the German invasion, he revisited
the place Of his birth. In eloquent feeling.
though not In passion, 1t may be compared
with the account Berlioz gives of his visit TO
the home of his youth, at Cote-Saint Andre.
after thirty tumultuous years. The few
years after this journey, and previous to his
death, Millet spent in his woodland home.
Not long before the end, one day early In
January, 1875, he heard in the nelghboripr
forest the cry of deer being killed by the
huntsman; and he remarked, at is an omen.
The poor beast is calling me; am going to
die" A similar story Is related Of the death
of Felicien David. Thus even in its last
beat did the
HEART OF THIS TRUE POET
and admirable painter beat true--eyer In
fbu nit mi rf -,
vast earth and ambient air.
1t would be difficult TO name any artist
contemporary with Millet whose tempera-
ment offers more piquant contrast with
his than Henri Regnault. Milets fortitude
and calm are singulaHy opposed to Reg
naulfs restless activity. From the day he
left the studio of NJ. Lamothe, with the now
celebrated exclamation, "Haine an grtsp"
on his lips, the febrile impulse that carried
him from Rome to Spain and from
Spain to Tangiers seemed to gather
is repeatedly exhibited in his cores
pondence. The plans he projected
for the future were on the literal and romaI-
tic scale of the visions in Gautier's romances.
He dreamed Of enchanted palaces, lakes of
lapis lazuli, plains all golden, cities of dia.
mond, and all the "barbaric pearl and gold''
of the Orient. sic yeatr .faire," he wrote.
''teS rTU1S INJURIES, TtcHeS Gu yTnnn6, JcTrIOLeS
Ell rotuptueu1 O Ia .f0iS, ceur qlfon ne uoit
plus que dams le passe. Puts Tnnis, puts
rEggote, puts PI1de." Whether this pas
sion for color and movement, this
EBULLrENT LIFE FEVER,
would have eventually subsided-whether
underlying all he possessed anything OF Mil
let's power Of giving expression to the "still
sad music of humanity is now, -unhappily,
problematical. The miserable and tragic day
Of Buzenval extinguished all hope OF the fui-
fillment of his promise. In connection with
that affair, M. J. b. Dumas relates that, dur
ing the siege of Paris be had learned that
the Germans at Sevres had destroyed his ia
theirs manuscripts and instruments, and
that, filled with nervous resentment
against the enemy, he turned back from his
retreating companions to make that Zone
more shot that resulted In his death. nj.
Meissonier has represented him In brilliant
ana powerful allegorical sketch, dying at the
feet OF Paris, and surrounded by crowd Of
combatants, living and wounded This de-