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Path through the Wheat
Jean-François Millet (French, 1814–1875)
about 1867
Medium/Technique
Pastel and black conté crayon on gray wove paper
Dimensions
40 x 50.8 cm (15 3/4 x 20 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Quincy Adams Shaw through Quincy Adams Shaw, Jr., and Mrs. Marian Shaw Haughton
Accession Number17.1521
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope, Prints and Drawings
ClassificationsPastels
Millet's biographer Alfred Sensier quoted him as saying, "If I could do what I wanted, or at least attempt it, I would do nothing that was not the result of an impression received from nature, be it in landscapes or figures." In many works, impressions from nature were combined with inspiration from other artistic sources. A sixteenth-century engraving of Summer provided the basis for elements of this very fine pastel.
InscriptionsLower right: J. F. Millet
ProvenanceCommissioned from the artist by Emile Gavet (b. 1830 - d. 1904), Paris; June 11-12, 1875, Gavet sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, lot 86, sold to Alexis-Eugene Détrimont (dealer), Paris, probably for Quincy Adams Shaw (b. 1825 - d. 1908), Boston; 1917, given to the MFA by Quincy Adams Shaw through Quincy A. Shaw, Jr. and Mrs. Marian Shaw Haughton to the MFA. (Accession Date: March 29, 1917)