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 almost Puritan was the atmosphere in which his character was formed. When he had to leave home to go to Paris his grandmother, who had a great influence upon his mind, said to him: "I would rather see you dead than apostate and unfaithful to God's commands." At a later time when he had begun to make his way in Paris she reminded him again: "Remember, my François, that you were a Christian before you were a painter; do not sacrifice to things indecent. . . . Paint for eternity, and think that the trump which will call to judgment is on the eve of sounding." These religious admonitions were in complete accord with Millet's feelings. From his childhood he had been brought up on devotional books, the Fathers of the Church, the ecclesiastical orators of the seventeenth century and above all the Bible, which he called "The Painters' Book." His first attempts were inspired by the Bible. "Some old Bible engravings," says Sensier, "gave him a wish to imitate them." When he first presented himself to a painter as a would-be pupil, he brought a drawing, the subject of which was taken from Saint Luke. He continually sought 23