Our print collection is notably rich in the work of Millet. Of the twenty etched plates listed by Delteil, all are represented in the collection with the exception of six. The prints are all fine impressions, in some cases exceptional in quality. The collection also includes Millet's celebrated lithograph, The Sower, and his rare heliogravure, Maternal Precaution. Of the six wood-engravings drawn by Millet and cut either by the artist or by one of his two brothers, Pierre and Jean-Baptiste Millet, three are represented in the collection. These wood-engravings are not so well known as Millet's etchings; and, in connection with the Millet exhibition now shown in the Print Gallery, a brief discussion of this subject may be of interest.Millet was a thoughtful artist, to whom the spirit of things was at least as important as their visual aspect. His deep and sincere sympathy with the life of the peasant, to which class he himself belonged, determined to a large extent his choice of subject. But Millet never descends to anecdotal trivialities; he avoids the pale sentimentality of such a painter as Jules Breton. His thought, like his technique, is virile, positive, honest. Millet was far above any trickery, either of thought or execution.The very intensity of his intellectual interests led Millet to evolve a personal style that is distinguished for its simplicity and directness. As an artist, Millet is more allied to Dürer than to Rubens. Color plays but a small part in his pictures. Perhaps no other artist loses less in reproduction, that is to say, in translation to monochrome, than Millet. One can form a very adequate idea of a Millet painting from a photograph. If we compare such a photograph with one from a painting by Monet, for example, we see upon reference to the originals how important color is to Monet, how little important to Millet. Significant, expressive line is the first essential of Millet's art, and even with this simple means alone he secures a surprising effect of plastic form. When color is added to outline, he is primarily interested in establishing accurately the values or the proportional light and shade of the different planes. Both in his use of line and of mass, it is Millet's invariable practice to simplify, omitting everything that is not essential to his purpose. Just as the Greek actor wore a mask modelled in exaggeration of nature so that his facial expression might be effective in the vastness of the theater, so Millet gives to his figures a rough-hewn, abstract quality of form, that they may be more readily comprehended.A draughtsman rather than a colorist, etching and wood-engraving were media particularly suited to Millet's mode of expression. As Meier-Graefe writes: "We never get so near to him as in the woodcuts which his brother executed, in his pen drawings, and his etchings, which are also more woodcuts than anything else." Both in his etchings and in his woodcuts Millet shows himself a master of process. Artistic economy of means is their distinguishing quality. Millet depends upon lines, not tones, for expression. Every line tells; there is no meaningless elaboration of effect. His art is suggestive, but his meaning always clear, concise, and impressive.In his woodcuts, Millet returns to the technical method of Dürer and the early masters of the art. This is in striking contrast to the wood-engraving practiced in Millet's own day, when the surface of the wood was tortured with infinite skill to rival the elaborate effects secured more easily in etching and engraving. Millet, like every other great artist, respects the medium in which he works. Strong, simple lines, effective opposition of broad masses; these are the characteristics of good wood-engraving. Millet's wood-engravings are of the utmost simplicity, but their very boldness, one might almost say their rudeness, results in marvelous force and beauty.The woodcuts engraved by Millet himself are only three in number. They are rather experiments in process than complete works of art. Apparently he soon gave up the attempt to cut his own designs, and followed the common procedure, for example that of Dürer, of having the drawings, which he made himself upon the block, cut by others. Millet was fortunate in being able to command the services of his two younger brothers, Pierre and Jean-Baptiste Millet. Between Millet and his brothers there was an intimate sympathy and understanding which is evident when we compare the woodcuts made by the brothers under Millet's supervision with other prints where the design has been translated by a stranger's hand.The reproduction on the cover is from a fine impression in our collection of the wood-engraving known as The Shepherdess Seated (Delteil, 33). This print is the second state with the sky, which is missing in the rare first state. This beautiful wood-engraving was cut after the master's design by one of his brothers, the painter, Jean-Baptiste Millet. The drawing of the seated figure is a splendid example of monumental severity in design. Characteristic of Millet is the low horizon line. The figure, silhouetted in part against the sky, obtains thus an impressive character that is particularly effective.An early impression from the wood-engraving known as The Digger Leaning On His Spade (Delteil, 34) permits us to study a very characteristic design by Millet, which was cut in the wood by Pierre Millet in 1874. This print, which is an excellent impression before the first "l" of Millet's name was broken on the block, shows a more nervous quality of line than in the preceding print. The subject, a peasant leaning on his spade, is one frequently treated by the artist. The execution of this block, although it lacks the austere economy of The Shepherdess Seated, has perhaps even more of the personal quality of a drawing.Millet was not a particularly skillful printer, in regard either to etching or wood-engraving. His own prints do not compare with those which were made from his plates by that master printer, August Delâtre. How much depends upon printing may be well seen in two impressions from the same block which are in our collection. This wood-engraving (Delteil, 32) is known as The Woman Filling Water-Cans; it was engraved from Millet's design by the sculptor, Pierre Millet. In one case the print is a remarkably beautiful impression, one of six made by Delâtre in Millet's own studio. The other is an average impression included in the collection for the purpose of comparison. In the Delâtre impression the ink would appear to have been flowed freely over the block and directed by an artist's hand. It has an autographic quality, the freedom of a sketch, that is lacking in the other print of the ordinary edition. The reproductions which accompany this article will make clear the difference between the two.Referenced Work of Art

1. The Shepherdess Seated, by J. F. Millet
2. Woman Filling Water-Cans, ordinary edition; the same wood-engraving printed by Delâtre