Francisque Millet Biography

The little that is known about his life is derived from the chapter on Flemish, German and Dutch painting in Le Comte's work (1699). His oeuvre remains ill-defined, in part because he seems never to have signed his paintings and in part because after his death (by poisoning) both his son Jean Millet (c. 1666-1723) and later his grandson Joseph Millet (c. 1688-1777) took the name Francisque and continued to paint landscapes in his style. The firmest point of reference for attributions to Millet is a series of 28 engravings after his works (see Davies) made by one Th?odore, possibly a pupil. They are all landscapes, some with religious, mythological or heroic genre subjects, and have been identified with a number of surviving paintings that can therefore be given to Millet on this evidence.