Page:François-Millet.djvu/208

This page has been validated.

JEAN FRANÇOIS MILLET

always adds the soul of Millet to them. That is what gives them their greatness and makes them touching in so unique a way. At the first blush, there may seem something strange in a comparison between the noble poems of Raphael or Poussin and these representations of rough peasant life. But piercing through these scenes of humble realism, we feel a spirit that is inwardly sublime and that radiates sublimity. "One must know how," he said, "to make the trivial serve to express the sublime; in that lies real strength."^[1] No man ever did this more constantly and more naturally than he. To him visible shapes were but a means of reaching the soul of things: "Ah, I wish I could make those who

↑ He was far, however, from desiring to confine art to his own personal province of rustic art. On the contrary, in opposition to Proudhon, he fiercely defended the right of art to represent other subjects than those of contemporary life. "Where, then, is personal impression? Cannot one be moved by a book that speaks of the past? Where would the picture of the Crusaders at Constantinople be if Delacroix had been compelled to paint the taking of the Trocadero or the opening of the Legislative Chambers?"

190

[1] He was far, however, from desiring to confine art to his own personal province of rustic art. On the contrary, in opposition to Proudhon, he fiercely defended the right of art to represent other subjects than those of contemporary life. "Where, then, is personal impression? Cannot one be moved by a book that speaks of the past? Where would the picture of the Crusaders at Constantinople be if Delacroix had been compelled to paint the taking of the Trocadero or the opening of the Legislative Chambers?"

[1]