New-York tribune., 1889-10-17
MILLETS HOUSE PULLED DOWN
HIS WIDOW COMPELLED TO vACATE THE OLD
HOME IN THE FOREST OF FONTAINEBLEAU

HOME IN THE FOREST OF F0NTAINEBLEAU.
The very same steamer. La Dourgognc which has
Just brought here the famous painting by Milct,
"L' Ancelus- also brought the Paris papers relating
how the great artists family have been compeIlol
to evacuate their home where Mllet executed his
masterpiece. The house stood in a small village or
hamlet BarbizOn, IN the forest of FOntanebeau near
Paris, aud which was coonized almost exclusively
by artists The pulling down OF Millet's Old home IS
the work Of an unsentimental and greedy woman But
two other women are rendering at the same time a
touching homage to his genius by purchasing at a
prce nearly big that paid by Americans for the
Angelus.' three celebrated paintings of Mlet which
they have given TO the Paris Louvre Museum
The Figaro says: Mrs. Pommery, a widow.
and Mrs. samson Davilier have just given TO the
Louvre, the former LES Glaneuses' the latter lie
Prlntemps and Les Meules'-thrce remarkable paint
ngs by I. +. Met. Honor to the two generous
ladies, whose muniiccnco is under the present cir
cumstances, an important compensation to art I'm our
country But why should it happen that fact quite
unforeseen should cause discorant note in the
concert OF satisfaction inspired by the entrance IN the
Louvre galleries of three Of his remarkable COM
positions Three months ago, at the time of the
Secrcan sale, when enraptured audience appauded
the triumph of the great man. his widow was
brutaly thrown ont from her house at Barbizon
which she had transformed into a temple, and where
this very Angelus' had been conceived some twenty
years previously. On several occasions already the
question of the pulling down of those four walls be-
tween which were born and have grown up the nine
children Of Millet had been agtatcd in the Paris
press. But fear disappeared the thought that
the owner of the house consecra'ed 10 the public
and the object of numerous plCrimages, would not
dare 10 order its destruction. Moreover Mrs. Mille
had lease good until 1889. and no doubt enter
taine1 as to its being renewed. But public opinion
II informed, and it had counted without taking
into consideration the greedinesS for gain of Mrs
Sensier's heirs.
The lease ended this year, and without any new
proposition having been made to Mrs. Millet she
received order TO vacae the house. based on the
judicial command of Mrs Duhamel through her hus-
band The grief of Mrs. Met immense,
be easily understood. Everything in the place
called TO her mind the thirty years spent in the
pany Of the formerly ignored great man! Every
corner of the house evoked in her souvenir OF her
life. Besides the brutal arrived Just at the
moment when the condition of the health of her
youngest daughter, affected with an ncurabe disease,
beginning to disturb the serenity Of the last years
Of her old age. The poor woman tlmidly applied to
ancient friends of Millet; they promised TO move In
the matter But alas compelled TO believe
that their promises vain words. The Society
Of the French Artists, which could have done some
thing. allowed events 10 follow thoir course
To-day the fact is accomplished The home of
T. +. Millet has been razed make room for solid
building. which Will produce good rents Good by,
then. 10 the studio and IT. squarely shaped stone:
the large armchair. covered with green cloth in whose
arms Rousseau and Milet spent the last moments
of their life, has left the place which It occupied for
so many years. Where now the sentences marked
on the walls by Daz and others The f}w brica-
bracs, the pieces Of cloth tapestry which Mlle him
self had hung on the walls. and which nobody damd
10 move, have made room now for the commonplace
decoration of house painter. Lost. and for Goof Is
the charming home which awolc 50 many souvenirs