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Shepherdess Leaning on her Staff
Jean-François Millet (French, 1814–1875)
about 1852–53
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
29.2 x 21.9 cm (11 1/2 x 8 5/8 in.)
Credit Line
Robert Dawson Evans Collection
Accession Number17.3245
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
The image of a solitary shepherdess tending her flock became a favorite motif in Millet’s depictions of French peasants and laborers. Seemingly lost in thought, her cloaked figure stands quietly beside an embankment, separated from the grazing sheep. Small-scale canvases like this were attractive to private collectors; this work was sold by Millet to prominent Boston artist William Morris Hunt.
Catalogue Raisonné
Murphy 27
InscriptionsLower right: J F M
ProvenanceSold by the artist to William Morris Hunt (b. 1824 - d. 1879), Boston; sold by Hunt to George W. Gregerson (b. 1840 - d. 1908), Providence, RI; bequest of Gregerson to his sister, Hannah Sharp Gregerson (b. 1848 - d. 1926); by 1898, sold by Gregerson to Robert C. Vose Galleries, Boston [see note 1]; 1907, sold by Vose Galleries to Robert Dawson Evans (b. 1843 - d. 1909) and his wife, Maria Antoinette Hunt Evans (b. 1845 - d. 1917), Boston; 1917, bequest of Mrs. Robert Dawson Evans to the MFA. (Accession Date: November 1, 1917)
NOTES:
[1] Vose Galleries lent the painting in 1898 to the Worcester Art Museum, First Loan Exhibition, cat. no. 151.
NOTES:
[1] Vose Galleries lent the painting in 1898 to the Worcester Art Museum, First Loan Exhibition, cat. no. 151.