Our print collection is notably rich in the work of Millet. The etchings
are all fine impressions, in some cases exceptional in quality. The
collection also includes Millet’s lithograph, The Sower, and his rare
heliogravure, Maternal Precaution. Of the six wood-engravings drawn by
Millet and cut by his brothers, three are represented in the collection.
Millet was a thoughtful artist, to whom the spirit of things was at least
as important as their visual aspect. His deep and sincere sympathy with
the life of the peasant, to whose class he himself belonged, determined to
a large extent his choice of subject. But Millet never descended to
anecdotal trivialities; he avoided the pale sentimentality of such a
painter as Jules Breton. His thought, like his technique, was virile,
positive, honest. Millet was far above any trickery, either of thought or
of execution.
The very intensity of his intellectual interests led Millet to evolve a
personal style that is distinguished by its simplicity and directness. As
an artist, Millet is more allied to Durer than to Rubens. Color plays but
a small part in his pictures. Significant, expressive line is the first
essential of his art, and with this simple means he secures a surprising
effect of plastic form. When color is added to outline, he is primarily
interested in establishing accurately the values of the different planes.
Both in his use of line and of mass, it is Millet’s invariable practice to
simplify, omitting everything that is not essential to his purpose.