JEAN-FRANCOIS MILLET

(1814-1875)

This etching was produced at the suggestion of Alfred Sensier who founded the Société des Dix as a means of exploiting the popularity of etchings and thus generating an income for its members. The Society comprised of ten members, who each paid fifty francs, which entitled them to a set number of impressions on various papers. Millet secured one thousand francs to enable him to develop this print through a number of drawings and printed states. One of the members of the group wanted the original plate destroyed to keep the market value high but Millet refused.

The theme of working men and women had become an increasingly popular one for the artists of Millet’s generation in a reaction against the Parisian salons.

Copyright © Trustees of Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford.

Extract taken from Prints, Cecil Higgins Art Gallery .