Jean-François Millet

French　1814 - 1875

Jean-François Millet was born in 1814 at Gruchy, a village in Normandy in Northern France. At the age of 18, he left for Cherbourg to learn painting, and about five years later, he arrived in Paris where he continued his studies. First gaining his recognition by portrait, in 1849, the painter moved to the village of Barbizon located near the Forest of Fontainebleau, focusing on depicting rural scenes and becoming one of the founders of the Barbizon school. With Gustave Courbet and Honoré Daumier, Millet is considered one of the representatives of the 19th-century French Realism. Issued from a farming family, Millet took peasant figures and village life as his subject matter. With rigorous composition, sincerity and simplicity of his artistic language, the painter conveyed a message that glorified labor’s grandeur and dignity. His representative works - “The Sower”, “The Gleaners” and “The Angelus” – embody the poetry of rural life and the beauty of humanity in an unadorned painting style. Millet’s thoroughness reflects on his artwork - he often executed a considerable amount of sketches before completing his oil painting -, yet, he left only about eighty pieces of the latter at the time of his death in 1875 at Barbizon, France.