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ID number: BIRBI-77.1 Institution: The Barber Institute of Fine Arts Artist / Maker: Millet, Jean-François (1814-1875) Title / Object name: A milkmaid Object type: Painting Culture: French Date made: about 1853/4 Materials: Oil on canvas Measurements: 32.5 x 24 cm (unframed) 45 x 37 x 6.5 cm (framed) Provenance: Purchased from the Hazlitt Gallery in 1977 for £26,300 |
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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, UK, 07 June 1991 - 18 August 1991, p. 5; 'Painters and Peasants', Bolton Museum and Art Gallery, Bolton, UK, 03 April 2000 - 08 June 2000, no. 47; 'Moonrise over Europe: J. C. Dahl and Romantic Landscape', Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham, UK, 2006, no. 23. |
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1 Related People | |
| Millet, Jean-François French 1814 1875 | |
2 Related Publications | |
| Revue du Louvre Herbert, R. L 1980 | |
| Moonrise Over Europe: J C Dahl and Romantic Landscape Spencer-Longhurst, Paul Philip Wilson Publishers 2006 | |
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