Page:François-Millet.djvu/208

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." 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

190