Jean-François Millet
1814-1875
Woman Seated with a Bundle of Kindling
1850s
12 3/16 x 8 5/8 inches (310 x 219 mm)
Black chalk on paper.
1981.71
Gift of Edwin Thorne.
Notes
Watermark: none.
Here we see an un-romanticized view of agricultural labor and rural poverty. A weary woman rests on the thick roots of a tree, having placed a bundle of kindling beside her. Her able but worn hands lie intertwined in her lap, and her face is slack with exhaustion. In the 1850s, Millet repeatedly depicted the women who gathered and sold twigs and branches for firewood in the Fontainebleau forest.
Here we see an un-romanticized view of agricultural labor and rural poverty. A weary woman rests on the thick roots of a tree, having placed a bundle of kindling beside her. Her able but worn hands lie intertwined in her lap, and her face is slack with exhaustion. In the 1850s, Millet repeatedly depicted the women who gathered and sold twigs and branches for firewood in the Fontainebleau forest.
Inscriptions/Markings
Signed with initials at lower left, in black chalk, "J.F.M.".
Associated names
Seligman, Germain, former owner.
Thorne, Landon K., Mrs., former owner.
Thorne, Edwin, donor.
Thorne, Landon K., Mrs., former owner.
Thorne, Edwin, donor.
Bibliography
Ryskamp, Charles, ed. Twentieth Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1981-1983. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1984, p. 277.
Artist
Classification
Century Drawings
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