"M. Millet's 'Reapers' are certainly not handsome; he has not copied them from the Belvedere Apollo. Their noses are flat, their lips thick, their cheek-bones prominent, their clothes coarse and ragged. But in all this we see a secret force, a singular vigour, a rare knowledge of line and action, an intelligent sacrifice of detail, a simplicity of colour which give these rustics a proud and imposing air, and at times recall the statues of Michelangelo. In spite of their poverty and ugliness, they have the majesty of toilers who are in direct contact with Nature."
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comment of contemporary art-critic Gautier in his 'Salon of 1853', Paris, Summer of 1853
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean-Fran%C3%A7ois_Millet
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Jean-François Millet
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