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Under Louis XIV, the two main landscape painter of the time were Pierre Patel and Francisque Millet. They were largely derivative in their styles, but this was the secret of their success. Both of them are relatively little known today.
Francisque Millet was more talented than Patel, though his present reputation is also obscure. Flemish in origin like Philippe de Champaigne, he worked mainly in Paris, specializing in classical landscapes inspired by the works of Dughet and Poussin. Millet had imagination and good powers of observation, but he never painted anything without a classical format. Millet preferred an intense blue for his landscapes (as did Poussin), which gives then an unnatural air.
The ideal landscape in Budapest characterizes well the style of this French painter of Flemish origin.
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