The Bather

April 1844

The death of his wife Pauline from consumption

After marrying Pauline-Virginie Ono in 1841 he moved with her to Paris; after rejections at the Salon of 1843 and Pauline’s death by consumption in April 1844, Millet returned again to Cherbourg.

1845

Meeting Catherine Lemaire and her portrait

In Cherbourg he met Catherine Lemaire, a former maidservant, and painted her portrait in 1845; she later bore him nine children.

mid-1840s

Friends in Paris: Rousseau, Daumier, Sensier

In Paris in the middle 1840s Millet befriended Constant Troyon, Narcisse Diaz, Charles Jacque and Théodore Rousseau, artists later associated with the Barbizon school; Honoré Daumier, whose figure draftsmanship influenced his rendering of peasant subjects; and Alfred Sensier, a government bureaucrat who became a lifelong supporter and eventually his biographer.

1849

The move to Barbizon

In June 1849 Millet settled in Barbizon with Catherine and their children.

1850

An arrangement with Alfred Sensier

In 1850 Millet entered into an arrangement with Sensier, who provided the artist with materials and money in return for drawings and paintings, while Millet remained free to sell work to other buyers.

1850

The Salon of 1850: “The Sower” and “Haymakers”

At that year’s Salon he exhibited “Haymakers” and “The Sower”, his first major masterpiece and the earliest of the iconic trio of paintings that also included “The Gleaners” and “The Angelus”.