International studio (50.1913)

The Rouart Collection.
representing a view of Puy-de-D6me, fetched
15,100 francs. This typical example was hung at
the exhibition of 1900. The next item in the
catalogue brings us back to figures again. This
was Photbus ct Boree, a superb drawing reproduced
in the Special Winter Number of The Studio 1902,
and also known as Le Voyageur, since it depicts a
man on horseback on the sea-shore struggling with
difficulty against the force of the wind. The artist
has rendered perfectly the muscular effort of the
rider, as he expresses it also in all the gestures and
actions of the workers he has shown us in his
pictures. This pastel was sold for 16,too francs.
Better still, however, do I like Millet when he
celebrates and magnifies the labour of the fields,
as in the exquisite work Berg'eres se chaziffant
(19,600 francs). In the slightest of their gestures
these peasants evoke our admiration by the
admirable nobility of their movement. They are
true to life, but at the same time, such is the genius
of the artist, they attain to the sublime harmony of
the works of antiquity. From this point of view
also, can one conceive of anything more noble

-The Works of Millet
than the Pay san rentrant du fztmier (14,700 francs)
or Le Cantonnier fys.00 francs), or again Le Vannier
(7400 francs) and Le Repos des Moissonneurs
(6600 francs) ?
What things might not be written concerning
every one of these drawings 1 Each one opens up
a new vista on the thoughts of the artist, each one
affords a fresh proof of the variety of his vision and
of his respectful fidelity to life. But for this we
should require a whole book, and it would carry us
far beyond the limits of this article. I must, how-
ever, mention yet one more among these beautiful
works, a fine drawing, 29 by 48 cm., entitled
Bitcherons liant des fagots dans la foret, a veritable
masterpiece which was without a doubt fully worth
the 14,600 francs paid for it in the sale.
One ought not to bring to a close a study of the
work of Millet as exemplified in the Rouart Collec-
tion without making a mention, in order perhaps
to be of some service to the many admirers of
the master, of some of the other drawings which
were in the same collection. These are Bergere
a-bpuyee sur son baton (3000 fr.); Daphnis et Chloe


‘ PAYSANNE ” (OIL PAINTING ON PANEL)
106

(Photo, E. Druet, Paris)

BY J. F. MILLET