Jean Francois Millet (1814-1875)
The son of a peasant farmer from Normandy, Millet overcame great odds to train as an artist in Paris during the 1830′s. At the outbreak of a Paris cholera epidemic in 1849, he was compelled to move to the Barbizon countryside south of the city at the advice of fellow artist Charles Jacque (who also taught Millet etching). Throughout his career, Millet never forgot his rural upbringing and produced images of peasants as almost saintly figures.