JEAN FRANÇOIS MILLET
portraits, and for Ribera's St Bartholomew and Centaurs. It was curious that he did not at first fully understand Rembrandt; he was probably alienated by the thing that generally attracts: the magic of his light. I imagine that, at first sight Rembrandt must have appeared to him too much of a "virtuoso;" and he could never endure "virtuosity." "Rembrandt," he said, "did not repel me, but he blinded me." Only by degrees did Millet reach the profound truth and the sublime heart of Rembrandt. On the other hand though he was shocked by Rubens he forgave him everything because he was "strong." "I always liked what was powerful, and would have given all Boucher for a naked woman by Rubens." Millet passionately loved strength; and his usual designation of the masters was the strong men. His love of power and abundance led him sometimes to like artists most remote from himself: painters of the Italian decadence like the Rossos and Primatices at Fontainebleau, whose taste is poor and sometimes detestable, but who are full of the pulse of life: "They belong to the decadence, it is true. The accessories of their people are
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