Biography

Aimé Millet, France (1819 – 1891)

Aimé Millet is the son of the miniaturist Frédéric Millet and Marie Henriette Rioux, the brother of the composer Émile Millet, as well as the uncle of the architect Louis Julian Millet. He has no family ties with the painter Jean-François Millet.

He was a student at the Morin Institution and, before 1829, entered the College of Versailles and then studied at the Royal School of Drawing, rue de l’École-de-Médecine. He worked for some time with the bronze sculptor Antoine Desboeufs (1793-1862). In 1836, he was received first at the School of Fine Arts in Paris and joined the studio of David d’Angers. In 1840, he began to produce his first sculpted works, after having executed drawings and paintings. He is however considered a minor painter. From 1861, Aimé Millet became vice-president of the National Society of Fine Arts. He married in 1864.

Aimé Millet was appointed professor at the Petite École in February 1870. Among the students were Louis Majorelle, Berthe Morisot, François Pompon and Lucien Pallez. He is the friend of the sculptor Pierre Louis Rouillard. He received the Legion of Honor in 1859.

He was called upon to create several monuments to the dead of the 1870 war.

Millet died on January 14, 1891 at his home at 21, boulevard des Batignolles in the 8th arrondissement of Paris and was buried in the same city in the cemetery of Montmartre (22nd division). On August 1, 1891, his widow will make a donation to establish an Aimé Millet prize, rewarding the best student in sculpture from the antique.