The Washington herald., 1913-04-09
MILLET compared
With FUIURISTS
Anna Seaton-Schmidt Says
She Can't See Beauty
of Moderns.
LECTURE CLOSES SEASON
Speaker Tells of Difficulty of Old
French Artist in Selling
His Canvases.

Jean Francois Millet, the great French
painter, and his life and works, were the
subject of a lecture given by Anna Sea-
ton-Schmdt, under the auspices of the
Washington Society of Fine Arts, at the
National Museum, last night. The lee
ture was the last one of the season
which has been most popular and sue
cessful 1t was illustrated with numer-
Gus beautiful lantern slides, copies OF
the masterpieces of the French painter.
BY way of contrast, the speaker show
ed few specimens of the work of the
cubist and futurist school, and remarked
that she was not endowed with suffi-
clent light to see or understand the spir-
II of this new movement
Delineating Millets work and its char
acter, the speaker styled him 1.-The great
classicist among modern artists and the
greatest interpreter of modern life and of
the magic words. Liberty, fraternity,
and equality"
Miss Seaton-Schmidt said that Millet' S
first work, including his Potato Plant
err" was very unpopular, and was re-
fused by dealers on account of the sub
ject being life among the lower class.
the peasants and workers. This unpop-
ularity of Millet's paintings was due to
the influence of royalty that did not care
TO remember poor peasants.
Art then was the Kings art" said
the speaker; lit was not free art. The
Raft of the Medusa' was styled the be-
ginning of modern art. Millet's work in
spires reverence for God. There was no
other artist who had as much power
over art and influence on Millet as
Michael Angelo. He did not care for the
art OF Vatican whose people looked TO
him like marionettes, and Bouchet's
women were too tight laced for Millet;
their shoes were too narrow: their faces
too aanemic, and their hands too long
and thin"
Speaking of the difficulty Millet encoun-
tered i'm selling his pictures for any
thing like the price they were worth,
the speaker said that four of tn, great
est paintings of this master were sold
for Sc, and that at another time some
of his pictures sold for S. The AN
selus was bought for the French gov
eminent for $4,000. but the government
refused to pay this large sum.
Purchased by American.
An American then purchased this paint
ing after the French government refused
To take il. He intended to bring it to
this country, and the United States gov
eminent put $4,000 duty on it, Not being
willing to pay this enormous amount on
a piece of art, the purchaser put ii on
exhibition in this country for a few
weeks, after the expiration of which, il
was taken back to France, where il was
finally sold to Suchard for $4,000. who
placed II in the Louvre, where il is TODAY
The Cleaners" is regarded by many
as Millets best picture. 1T shows three
peasant women in the field bending and
cleaning the field. When this picture
was exhibited Millet was accused of be-
ing socialist, who did not see the
beauty in life. When he painted the
Man with the Hoe he was regarded as
entirely outside the pale of society MEL
let. said the speaker, felt that labor was
dignified by labor and that the Man
with the Hoe represented this Senti-
ment. Miss Seaton-Schmidt disa greed
with Edwin Markham's poem as it in
terpreted Mllets famous painting
Millet was the Inauguration OF the new
movement in French art of to-day, which
is to glorify labor.