Evening star., 1897-04-09
MILLETs STRUGGLE.
He and HIS Family Were Freuuently
on the Brink of Starvation.

on the Brink Of Starvation.
From the New York Herald.
Jean FRANCHISE Millet has for the first
time been put adequately before the read
ing public. There hANe hitherto been at
tempts at biography. description and per-
sonal sketches. memoirs. recollections, ETC.,
in the magaxlnes-eveR meager book by
his friends. Sensier and Mantz But the
authoritative biography was wanting That
want has now been supplied by Julia Cart
wright, whose handsome octave volume,
Jean Francois Millet: His Life and Let
ters' (Masmillan, is a carefully written
and appreciative review of his life and
works. Biographical facts and letters col
lected from all available sources have been
supplemented by a variety of information
received from members of his family and
personal friends, which help to fill UP the
outline and complete the picture. The
work has been done none too soon. One by
one the men and women who were his
contemporaries are dropping out, and it be-
comes the more important to collect these
scattered memoirs before the generation
which knew Millet has quite passed away.
The smallest details that throw light upon
the character and genius of such a man
re precious.
For in Millet's case, as Miss Cartwright
points out. the man and the artist were
d
special manner the expression of his life.
Himself a. peasant of peasants, he has IL
lustrated the whole cycle of the life of the
fields in a series of immortal pictures.
His first masterpieces We're rejected by
the jury of the Salon. The pictures which
row fetch their thousands were sold for
lew pounds TO buy bread for his children.
litiful as the story is, it is none the less
noble and Inspiring. His sufrerings sad
dened and shortened his life, but they did
not crush his spirit or weaken the message
which he had to give.
1t is pretty story, that Of the budding
forth of the boys genius. Always impress
sionable to the wonders of nature, the
:aSue STRINGS in his heart found express
sion at last through the sight of some old
cngravings in illustrated Bible. Then he
tried his hand at drawing the objects
around the fields While his father siumbered
on couch at his side. Francois would
sketch the cows, the sheep, the trees Of
ten the father. waking from his Sleep would
get up and take a peep at the drawing on
which the boy was intently engaged, and
return softly to his place without disturb
ing nlm' Wen pleased to see this new devei-
cpme1I OF his sons powers.
But 1t set him to serious thinking One
Sunday when the lad was about eighteen
years old he spoke to him and asked him
Nnether ne wished to be a painter. Fran
co.'s answered in the affirmative. Then.
with kindness that the youth never for
got the elder Millet said
My poor Francois, l see that this idea
iiaS' eohCA HOiu "a yOu SnOUld IKE to
have sent you long ago to learn this trade
OF painter, which people say is such
fine thing, but 1t is impossible. You are the
eldest OF four boys. and l could not do with
out you. But now that your brothers are
growing up 1 will no longer hinder YOU
from learning what YOU are so anxious to
know We will go TO- Cherbourg and see if
you have really enough, talent to b. able
At Cherbourg they called upon an artist
named Bon Dumoueel. The latter saw 1T
glance the originality and merit of the
country lads productipns
You are laughing at fne," he said oush-
ly; you don't mean to tell me that this
young ys,ar,! man made those drawings by him
Yes. certainly" said the father grayelv.
L saw him make them myself"
Il don't believe it, teturned Dumoucel
Il see that the method Is awkward, but as
for the composition. I 'repeat it is impossi-
When at last the 1incfedulous artist .as
convinced, he turned~te the father and ex-
damnad Msl fa1 theh h.sin all ea say Is you will be
pfow. for your boy has the making of
great painter in him. s.,
And he agreed on the spot to take Fran
co.'s as his pupil. Later came the twelve
years stay in Paris. the painful appren-
t1ceship to art. the stin more painful effort
to obtain recognition. Time after time his
pictures were rejected by the Salon, He
"oo HoW anu b IQtlSr. In his
dire need he accepted whatever or,.ers he
could get. and painted signs and portraits
for the smallest sums. Even then ne had
great difficulty to get paid, and often met
with harsh and cruel treatment
His wife died. He married again Inder a
temporary but illusonary CLEAN Of sun
shine. Then darkness once more Cell upon
the little family So late as 1918 a kind
hearted artist. learning of his plight, raised
100 francs for him from the tcr of the
interior, who was likewise the head of the
administration of fine arts. A. that time
all Paris was talking of his pictures, but,
alas! not buying them.
Some of his sketches now found a small
sale. These were mostly of nude subjects
But one day he happened 20 overhear two
youths speaking of pastel ne had lately
sold, representing two women in a bath.
"A man named Miliet painted it," said
one. He does nothing but paint naked
women"
The words were a shock t. the unwilling
esvesdropper. His friends bad often ad-
mired his nude figures and praised mis- skill
in fieesh color. But never until that mo-
ment had he realized that upon them de-
pended his chief reputation as an artist.
His soul rose up in horror.