The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, the Lapworth Museum of Geology and the University of Birmingham Collections - Objects
Go to the Advanced Search
<< Viewing record 33 of 200 >>List View | Image List | Detailed 


Your search has been limited to 200 records. As your search has brought back a large number of records consider using the 'Advanced Search' feature which enables you to use more search terms to bring back a more accurate set of records.
 


ID number:  BIRBI-77.1
Institution:  The Barber Institute of Fine Arts
Artist / Maker:  Millet, Jean-François (1814-1875)
Title / Object name / Definition:  A milkmaid
Object type:  Painting
Culture:  French
Date made:  About 1853/4
Materials:  Oil on canvas
Measurements:  32.5 x 24 cm
Provenance:  Purchased from the Hazlitt Gallery in 1977 for £26,300.
BIRBI-77.1.jpg

Description:  A milkmaid, silhouetted against the moon, pauses to rebalance a heavy copper pitcher on her shoulder. Despite her small scale, the figure has a monumentality which conveys a timeless quality. Millet came from a peasant background in Normandy and his paintings of rural labour were rooted in his own early experiences. They also reflected his deeply conservative belief in the natural cycle of the seasons and the dignity of the peasant. Nonetheless, works such as this, with its rugged handling of paint and restricted palette, were interpreted by contemporaries as radical in sentiment.

Inscriptions / Translations:  Signed I.r.: J.F. Millet.

Notes:  Exhibited: 'French Impressionism: Treasures from the Midlands', Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, 1991, p. 5; 'Painters and Peasants', Bolton Museum and Art Gallery, Bolton, 2000, no. 47; 'Moonrise over Europe: J. C. Dahl and Romantic Landscape', Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham, 2006, no. 23.


1 Related Media Item



BIRBI-77.1.jpg
BIRBI-77.1.jpg


1 Related People & Organizations

Millet, Jean-François

2 Related Publications

Moonrise Over Europe: J C Dahl and Romantic Landscape
Spencer-Longhurst, Paul
Philip Wilson Publishers
2006
Revue du Louvre
Herbert, R. L

1980
<< Viewing record 33 of 200 >>