Jean-François Millet
Woman Resting on Her Pitchfork
1854-1859
Physical Qualities
Black fabricated chalk heightened with white chalk on paper, Sheet: 369 x 268 mm. (14 1/2 x 10 9/16 in.)
Credit Line
The George A. Lucas Collection, purchased with funds from the State of Maryland, Laurence and Stella Bendann Fund, and contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations throughout the Baltimore community
Object Number
1996.48.4
In Jean-François Millet’s drawing, a haystack towers over
a woman field worker gazing down at more hay before
her. Meanwhile, François-Nicolas Auguste Feyen-Perrin
depicted a woman sifting through valuable grain as wheat
husks (or chaff) cascade from her basket. Seen from behind,
the woman in Jules Bastien-Lepage’s print returns home
after a day of labor.
Standing amidst signs of plenty—hay piled high, endless
fields, streaming chaff—these women seem exhausted,
with downward gazes and hands on hips. This contrast
foregrounds the physical labor that agriculture demands. In
19th-century France, women contributed significantly to the
economic stability of rural households, even while they were
denied equal legal rights.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 1996; The Maryland Institute College of Art,
through Henry Walters, Baltimore, by bequest 1909; from George A. Lucas, Paris
through Henry Walters, Baltimore, by bequest 1909; from George A. Lucas, Paris
Sona K. Johnson, BMA, Baltimore, "Barbizon and Impressionist Works from The Baltimore Museum of Art," circulated by Brain Trust to Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art, January 11-February 16, 2003; Sakura City Museum of Art, Chiba, February 27-March 30, 2003; Okazaki City Museum, April 5-May 18, 2003; Suntory Museum, Osaka, May 24-July 6, 2003; Miyazaki Prefectural Museum, July 12-August 17, 2003.Baltimore Museum of Art, 'The George A. Lucas Collection of the Maryland Institute', Oct. 12-Nov. 21, 1965, p. 67, no. 337.
Baltimore Museum of Art, 'Drawings and Prints from the School of Barbizon', April-June 1964.
Baltimore Museum of Art, 'From Ingres to Gauguin: French Nineteenth Century Paintings Owned in Maryland', Nov.-Dec. 1951, p. 24, no. 52.
Baltimore Museum of Art, 'French Drawings', May 1934.
The Maryland Institute, Baltimore, 'Exhibition of Paintings, Bronzes and Porcelains from the George A. Lucas Collection', 1911, p. 34, no. 156.
Joanna Karlgaard and Robin Owen Joyce, BMA, "Deconstructing Nature: Environmental Transformation in the Lucas Collection," August 27, 2025 - January 11, 2026.
Baltimore Museum of Art, 'Drawings and Prints from the School of Barbizon', April-June 1964.
Baltimore Museum of Art, 'From Ingres to Gauguin: French Nineteenth Century Paintings Owned in Maryland', Nov.-Dec. 1951, p. 24, no. 52.
Baltimore Museum of Art, 'French Drawings', May 1934.
The Maryland Institute, Baltimore, 'Exhibition of Paintings, Bronzes and Porcelains from the George A. Lucas Collection', 1911, p. 34, no. 156.
Joanna Karlgaard and Robin Owen Joyce, BMA, "Deconstructing Nature: Environmental Transformation in the Lucas Collection," August 27, 2025 - January 11, 2026.
Arthur Hoeber, Barbizon Painters, New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1915, plate facing p. 30.
Adelyn Dohme Breeskin, 'A Juno in Sabots', Museum Quarterly of the Baltimore Museum of Art, I:4 (Oct.-Dec. 1936); 3-5.
Sona K. Johnson et al, "Barbizon and Impressionist Works from The Baltimore Museum of Art," Tokyo: "Barbizon and Impressionist Works from The Baltimore Museum of Art" catalogue committee, 2003, no. 46, p. 80, ill
Inscribed: RECTO: BRC, black chalk/conté crayon, 'J. F. Millet'; VERSO: LowerC, graphite, 'no 190'; LowerC, graphite, '53-65' [?]
