This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1881 Excerpt: ...has come to Barbizon. Hunt has been here several days. Will Rousseau come? J.-F. Millet." The year 1856, an infernal year, did not seem to affect Millet. The more he suffered the more he withdrew into solitude to bring forth great things. He was very much interested in n type of which Barbizon gave him the best ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1881 Excerpt: ...has come to Barbizon. Hunt has been here several days. Will Rousseau come? J.-F. Millet." The year 1856, an infernal year, did not seem to affect Millet. The more he suffered the more he withdrew into solitude to bring forth great things. He was very much interested in n type of which Barbizon gave him the best examples, --the shepherd, --and painted several. The shepherd is not a countryman after the pattern of the laborers and other field-hands; he is an enigma, a mystery; he lives alone, his only companions his dog and his flock. From Kastcr to Martinmas he sleeps in the open air, in a movable hut, which makes him a nightly guardian of his flock. In winter he goes over the wet ground to find the slightest spear of vegetation. In spring he helps the ewes in the bringing forth of their young, and cares for them. He is the guardian, the guide, the physician of the flock. Besides, he is a man of contemplation. He knows the stars, watches the sky, and predicts the weather. The whole life of the atmosphere is familiar to him. This solitary being greatly interested Millet. One picture, painted in 1856, a shepherd bringing home his flock at sunset, has a Homeric simplicity and beauty. Another, near a rock in the shadow of a wood, looks out on the world of sunlight, where two men labor wearily, and seems almost glad of the misery of others. Another watches the horizon and the little cloud in the east. Of a picture of a shepherd in the fold, at night, a weird moonlight effect, he said: "Oh, how 1 wish I could make those who see my work feel the splendors and terrors of the night! One ought to be able to make people hear the songs, the silences and murmurings of the air. They should feel the infinite. Is there not something terrible in thinking of these lig...
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