Jean-François Millet

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Jean-François Millet
1814-1875
Dunes of Gruchy
ca. 1860s
Black chalk on blue-gray paper.
6 3/4 x 9 1/2 inches
Gift of John M. Thayer.
2004.4
Notes: 

Millet's native Gruchy is a hamlet on the tip of a peninsula that juts into the English channel along the Normandy coast of northern France in La Hague district. It is close to the coast and to the many dune-protected beaches. This view of cliffs behind a rolling landscape with a path ascending from a lower elevation has been associated with the area near Gruchy, which the artist frequently visited. Similar sites depicted by Millet, with cliffs and rolling hills, were near Vichy, in central France, where he and his wife summered from 1866 until 1868.

Inscription: 

Stamped at lower right, "J.F.M.".

Provenance: 
Harwood Fine Arts, New York; John M. Thayer (1944-2004), Wilmington, DE.
Associated names: 

Thayer, John M. (John MacLane), 1944-2004, former owner.

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