Jean Francois Millet was what Gustave Courbet pretended to be: the son of peasants. Born in 1814, at Gruchy near Cherbourg, he spent most of his life in rural France. He received his first instruction in art from Langlois at Cherbourg in 1832. His aptitude was so obvious that he was granted a pension by the Municipal Council to enable him to study art in Paris.

In 1837, he joined the Parisian studio of Delaroche where Diaz and Rousseau were his fellow pupils. He first exhibited at the Salon in 1840. He was able to perceive the land and the labor it exacted from men as substance and process, not as a sight for city-dwelling impressionists on an outing. For some time he earned a living pai...