[Illustration: STUDY FROM NATURE. BY JEAN FRANÇOIS MILLET. Reproduced by permission of Braun, Clement & Co.] [Illustration: MILLET'S COAT OF ARMS. Reproduced by permission of Braun, Clement & Co. A facsimile of one of the little drawings which Millet was accustomed to make for acquaintances and collectors of autographs, and which he laughingly called his "_armes parlantes_."] [Illustration: PORTRAIT OF JEAN FRANÇOIS MILLET, DRAWN BY HIMSELF. Reproduced by permission of Braun, Clement & Co. Of this portrait, drawn in 1847, Sensier, in his "Life" of Millet, says: "It is in crayon, and life-sized. The head is melancholy, like that of Albert Dürer; the profound regard is filled with intelligence and goodness."] MCCLURE'S MAGAZINE. VOL. VI. MAY, 1896. No. 6. A CENTURY OF PAINTING. JEAN FRANÇOIS MILLET.--PARENTAGE AND EARLY INFLUENCES.--HIS LIFE AT BARBIZON.--VISITS TO MILLET IN HIS STUDIO.--HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE.--HIS OWN COMMENTS ON HIS PICTURES.--PASSAGES FROM HIS CONVERSATION. BY WILL H. LOW. These papers, disclaiming any other authority than that which appertains to the conclusions of a practising painter who has thought deeply on the subject of his art, have nevertheless avoided the personal equation as much as possible. A conscientious endeavor has been made to consider the work of each painter in the place which has been assigned him by the concensus of opinion in the time which has elapsed since his work was done. In the consideration of Jean François Millet, however, I desire for the nonce to become less impersonal, for the reason that it was my privilege to know him slightly, and in the case of one who as a man and as a painter occupies a place so entirely his own, the value of recorded personal impressions is greater, at least for purposes of record, than the registration of contemporary opinion concerning him. I must further explain that, as a young student who received at his hands the kindly reception which the master, stricken in health, and preoccupied with his work, vouchsafed, I could only know him superficially. It may have been the spectacle of youthful enthusiasm, or the modest though dignified recognition of the reverence with which I approached him, that made this grave man unbend; but it is certain that the few times when I was permitted to enter the rudely built studio at Barbizon have remained red-letter days in my life, and on each occasion I left Millet with an impression so strong and vital that now, after a lapse of twenty years, the work which he showed me, and the words which he uttered, are as present as though it all had occurred yesterday. The reverence which I then felt for this great man was born of his works, a few of which I had seen in 1873 in Paris; and their constant study, and the knowledge of his life and character gained since then, have intensified this feeling. [Illustration: THE SHEEP-SHEARERS. FROM A PAINTING BY JEAN FRANÇOIS MILLET.