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Pears
Jean-François Millet (French, 1814–1875)
about 1862–66
Medium/Technique
Oil on panel
Dimensions
18.4 x 25.4 cm (7 1/4 x 10 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Quincy Adams Shaw through Quincy Adams Shaw, Jr., and Mrs. Marian Shaw Haughton
Accession Number17.1519
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
The fruit and flowers included in still life paintings are often rare and expensive varieties. But Millet believed in the beauty of common things, even simple pears from a rural garden. "Who would dare to claim," he asked, "that a potato is inferior to a pomegranate?"
InscriptionsLower right: J. F. Millet
Provenance1875, from the artist to his widow, Catherine Lemaire Millet (b. 1827 - d. 1894), Barbizon; sold by Mme. Millet to Quincy Adams Shaw (b. 1825 - d. 1908), Boston [see note 1]; 1917, gift of Quincy Adams Shaw through Quincy Adams Shaw, Jr. and Mrs. Marian Shaw Haughton to the MFA. (Accession Date: March 29, 1917)
NOTES:
[1] See Alexandra R. Murphy, Jean-François Millet (Boston, 1984), p. xii.
NOTES:
[1] See Alexandra R. Murphy, Jean-François Millet (Boston, 1984), p. xii.