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Faggot Gatherers Returning from the Forest (recto); Woman Holding Laundry. Study for Washerwomen (verso)
Jean-François Millet (French, 1814–1875)
about 1854
Medium/Technique
Black conté crayon on dark cream wove paper
Dimensions
Sheet: 28.6 x 46.7 cm (11 1/4 x 18 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Martin Brimmer
Accession Number76.437
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope, Prints and Drawings
ClassificationsDrawings
After collecting fallen branches for sale in the village, a routine but exhausting labor in the peasant community of Barbizon, a group of three women emerge from the Fontainebleau forest at dusk. The trees and the trudging women, who carry heavy bundles of sticks (faggots), echo each other in a series of shadowy columnar forms, endowing the scene with the solemnity of a ritual procession. The woman in the foreground drags a long walking stick.
Catalogue Raisonné
Murphy 057; Murphy 61
ProvenanceMay 10-11, 1875, Millet studio sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, lot 127, to Richard Hearn on behalf of Martin Brimmer (b. 1829 - d. 1896), Boston; 1876, gift of Martin Brimmer to the MFA. (Accession Date: July 1, 1876)