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The image of a solitary spinner at work became a favorite motif in Millet’s depictions of French peasants and laborers. The activity held personal significance for the artist—the sounds of women spinning and carding wool in his family home in Gruchy were some of Millet’s earliest memories.
Standing Spinner
Jean-François Millet (French, 1814–1875)
about 1850–55
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
45.2 x 32.5 cm (17 13/16 x 12 13/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Quincy Adams Shaw through Quincy Adams Shaw, Jr., and Mrs. Marian Shaw Haughton
Accession Number17.1499
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
The image of a solitary spinner at work became a favorite motif in Millet’s depictions of French peasants and laborers. The activity held personal significance for the artist—the sounds of women spinning and carding wool in his family home in Gruchy were some of Millet’s earliest memories.
Catalogue Raisonné
Murphy 59
InscriptionsLower right: J. F. Millet
Provenance1874, John W. Wilson; April 27-28, 1874, Wilson sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, lot 114. 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)