Jean-François Millet
Shepherdess
c. 1870-1874
Scroll
Jean-François Millet
Shepherdess
c. 1870-1874
Physical Qualities
Pastel and conté crayon on gray paper, Sheet: 695 x 937 mm. (27 3/8 x 36 7/8 in.)
Credit Line
The Helen and Abram Eisenberg Collection
Object Number
1964.24
Toward the end of his career, Jean-François Millet turned increasingly to pastels to depict the peasant scenes and agricultural landscapes that had become the mainstay of his work. (Shepherdess is a variation of a painting Millet exhibited to great success in the Paris Salon of 1864.) The artist explored the expressive potential of pastels by combining them with black conté crayon. Here in the sky he used high-key colors of pastel to represent the setting sun, and in the ground he interwove strokes of earth-toned pastels with black lines. Such technical inventiveness inspired a younger generation of pastellists, including Edgar Degas.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1964; Abram Eisenberg, Baltimore, by purchase April 1927; consigned to M. Knoedler and Co., NY and Paris, 1926; by descent to Mrs. Michael Gavin; James J. Hill, St. Paul, by purchase December 1913; consigned to M. Knoedler and Co., NY and Paris; Edward Wasserman; American Art Association, New York, Jan. 25, 1907, no. 23; H. S. Henry, New York, with Julius Oehme, New York, by purchase; J. Saats Forbes, London.
National Gallery of Art, Washington, in association with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 'From Corot to Monet: Painters and Photographers in the Forest of Fountainebleau.' National Gallery of Art, March 2 - June 8, 2008
BMA, Cone Wing rotation, 5 February - 24 June 2007.
Jay Fisher et al, 'The Essence of Line: French Drawings from Ingres to Degas,' The Baltimore Museum of Art, June 19-Sept. 11, 2005.
Alexandra Murphy, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Mass., 'Jean-François Millet: Drawn into Light', June 20 - Sept. 7, 1999, p. 118, no. 84; circulated to The Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Oct. 26, 1999 - Jan. 5, 2000.
BMA, Jacobs Wing, November 10, 1994 - January 12, 1995.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'Master Drawings by French Artists in the Museum's Collection', May 14 - July 23, 1989.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'Drawings and Prints from the School of Barbizon', April - June 1964.
BMA, Cone Wing rotation, 5 February - 24 June 2007.
Jay Fisher et al, 'The Essence of Line: French Drawings from Ingres to Degas,' The Baltimore Museum of Art, June 19-Sept. 11, 2005.
Alexandra Murphy, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Mass., 'Jean-François Millet: Drawn into Light', June 20 - Sept. 7, 1999, p. 118, no. 84; circulated to The Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Oct. 26, 1999 - Jan. 5, 2000.
BMA, Jacobs Wing, November 10, 1994 - January 12, 1995.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'Master Drawings by French Artists in the Museum's Collection', May 14 - July 23, 1989.
The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'Drawings and Prints from the School of Barbizon', April - June 1964.
'Accessions Report', The Baltimore Museum of Art News, 28:1 (1965), p. 23, ill. p. 24.
Inscribed: lower left in pastel: "J.F. Millet"; lower right in conté crayon: "J.F. Millet"
