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Description: | Jean-François Millet called Francisque Millet (1642-1679) was born in Antwerp, of French parents. In 1659 he travelled to Paris, with his master Laureys Franck, where he remained for the rest of his life. His career there took off working in the service of the wealthy collector Everard Jabach for whom he made as many as fifty-seven paintings, including many copies after Nicolas Poussin, Guido Reni, Titian and Giulio Romano. In 1673 he was accepted into the Paris Academy but his life ended prematurely as a result of poisoning. Millet specialised as a painter of Italianate landscapes in a style heavily influenced by the principles of Poussin and Dughet, but including a stylised narrative element, often without clear meaning, but conveying a solemn atmosphere. No signed paintings by Millet survive, however autograph works have been identified by comparison with engravings, made by a pupil, after his paintings. Both his son and grandson, were named Jean-François Millet, and painted landscapes in his style. The Chiswick painting is a characteristic product of Millet's brush: here an extensive Arcadian landscape is spread before us; it is composed on classical principles and is consequently scored by winding paths and a sparkling stream that carry our eye through multiple receding planes into the distance where at the foot of a rocky outcrop, closing the vista, we see a gathering of geometrically composed buildings. The incidental figures in the foreground, two men seated by the stream, a woman in classical robes and others at a fountain beyond, serve to lead our eye into the painting and to stimulate imaginative speculation on the work's subject. | Subjects: | landscape; figure | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Millet, Jean François, I (French artist, 1642-1679) Æ Attributed to | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=8728... | Go to resource |
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