DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.63220#0126
MILLET
famous drypoint The Forge is dated 1861. In the year i860, Millet,
Jacquemart, Bracquemond, and Legros were all in the prime of their
power as etchers. Gaillard had already begun his admirable original
work with the burin, and in England some of Samuel Palmer’s
beautiful etched landscapes had already appeared.
It would be well if a historical circumstance connected with
Millet could be set right. After the master’s death in 1875
his friend and biographer, Alfred Sensier, sold at public auction
his collection of Millet’s works at an immense profit on the
prices which he had paid for them. Hence arose the story that
Sensier had unmercifully exploited Millet, taking advantage of the
artist’s necessities. It is quite true that during the long years when
Millet was glad to sell his pictures at any price however small,
Sensier was one of the very few who had the intelligence to buy
them. But the writer of this article, being deeply interested in all
that concerns Millet, has consulted a son and a daughter of the
master on this question. Monsieur Charles Millet, the Paris archi-
tect, frankly states that his father always gratefully recognised the
sympathy and the aid of Alfred Sensier ; and his elder sister,
Madame Saignier, who was a grown-up woman before her father’s
death, declares that Millet taught his children to love and esteem
Alfred Sensier “ next after le bon Dieu.”
In the city of Cork the Irish driver of a jaunting-car was agreeably
surprised when the gentleman who had hired him also gave him a
helping hand with a heavy trunk. “ A little help is betther than
a power o’ pity, sorr,” is what the Irishman said. Millet sorely
needed help. Some who could have helped him merely pitied him,
and—like the priest and the Levite in the parable—“ passed by on
the other side.” It Sensier was only a Samaritan, he was a Good
Samaritan, because he helped the man who had “fallen among
thieves.”
Frederick Keppel.
m xviii
famous drypoint The Forge is dated 1861. In the year i860, Millet,
Jacquemart, Bracquemond, and Legros were all in the prime of their
power as etchers. Gaillard had already begun his admirable original
work with the burin, and in England some of Samuel Palmer’s
beautiful etched landscapes had already appeared.
It would be well if a historical circumstance connected with
Millet could be set right. After the master’s death in 1875
his friend and biographer, Alfred Sensier, sold at public auction
his collection of Millet’s works at an immense profit on the
prices which he had paid for them. Hence arose the story that
Sensier had unmercifully exploited Millet, taking advantage of the
artist’s necessities. It is quite true that during the long years when
Millet was glad to sell his pictures at any price however small,
Sensier was one of the very few who had the intelligence to buy
them. But the writer of this article, being deeply interested in all
that concerns Millet, has consulted a son and a daughter of the
master on this question. Monsieur Charles Millet, the Paris archi-
tect, frankly states that his father always gratefully recognised the
sympathy and the aid of Alfred Sensier ; and his elder sister,
Madame Saignier, who was a grown-up woman before her father’s
death, declares that Millet taught his children to love and esteem
Alfred Sensier “ next after le bon Dieu.”
In the city of Cork the Irish driver of a jaunting-car was agreeably
surprised when the gentleman who had hired him also gave him a
helping hand with a heavy trunk. “ A little help is betther than
a power o’ pity, sorr,” is what the Irishman said. Millet sorely
needed help. Some who could have helped him merely pitied him,
and—like the priest and the Levite in the parable—“ passed by on
the other side.” It Sensier was only a Samaritan, he was a Good
Samaritan, because he helped the man who had “fallen among
thieves.”
Frederick Keppel.
m xviii