Jean Francois Millet, 1814–75, was a French painter. He was born into a poor farming family. In 1837 an award enabled him to go to Paris, where he studied art, prints and posters with Delaroche.
In 1849 he settled in Barbizon, where he executed such celebrated works as the Gleaners (1857) and the Angelus (1859), both now in the Louvre. He was associated with members of the Barbizon school by proximity and friendship rather than by stylistic approach or treatment of subject in his art, prints and posters.
As a painter of melancholy scenes of peasant labor, he has been considered a social realist. Millet’s art, prints and posters are noted for their power and simplicity of drawing. His work is well represented in American museums, notably in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.