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Shearing Sheep
Jean-François Millet (French, 1814–1875)
1852–53
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
40.7 x 24.8 cm (16 x 9 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Quincy Adams Shaw through Quincy Adams Shaw, Jr., and Mrs. Marian Shaw Haughton
Accession Number17.1489
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
In early 1890, while he was staying at the asylum at St-Rémy, in Provence, van Gogh embarked on a series of copies after Millet's paintings of the "labors of the fields," of which this is one of the originals. Although Vincent expressed his reservations about this exercise, "fearing it might be plagiarism," his brother Theo greatly admired the results. "The copies after Millet are possibly the finest things you've done," he wrote.
Catalogue Raisonné
Murphy 43
InscriptionsLower right: J. F. Millet
ProvenanceAbout 1853, purchased from the artist by William Morris Hunt, Boston; 1874, sold by Hunt to Doll and Richards, Boston, for Quincy Adams Shaw (b. 1825 - d. 1908), Boston; 1917, gift of Quincy Adams Shaw through Quincy A. Shaw, Jr. and Mrs. Marian Shaw Haughton to the MFA. (Accession Date: March 29, 1917)