Millet, Jean Francois, << mee LEH, zhan frahn SWAH >> (1814-1875), a French artist, was the most significant painter of peasant life of the 1800’s. In 1849, he settled in the village of Barbizon near the forest of Fontainebleau. He spent almost all the rest of his life there painting scenes from rural life. His most popular works include The Sower (1850), The Gleaners (1857), and The Angelus (1859). Such works dignify their subjects, portraying rural life at a time when universal suffrage in France made the peasant an important political force.
Millet was born in Gruchy, near Cherbourg. He was descended from well-to-do farmers in Normandy, and his knowledge of peasant life came from the perspective of a prosperous farmer. Millet’s paintings became especially popular with American and French industrialists of the late 1800’s. These industrialists appreciated the idea of hard work and social order, which Millet’s paintings seemed to endorse. Millet influenced a number of artists, including the famous painters Vincent van Gogh and Georges Seurat.
