id: 138515 accession number: 1962.407 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1962.407 updated: 2023-08-24 11:35:29.861000 First Steps, c. 1859–66. Jean-François Millet (French, 1814–1875). Black chalk and pastel on beige laid paper; sheet: 29.5 x 45.9 cm (11 5/8 x 18 1/16 in.); secondary support: 36 x 50.9 cm (14 3/16 x 20 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Thomas H. Jones, Sr. 1962.407 title: First Steps title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1859–66 creation date earliest: 1854 creation date latest: 1871 current location: creditline: Gift of Mrs. Thomas H. Jones, Sr. copyright: --- culture: France, 19th century technique: black chalk and pastel on beige laid paper department: Drawings collection: DR - French type: Drawing find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Jean-François Millet (French, 1814–1875) - artist Son of a wealthy farmer, Jean-François Millet studied with a portrait painter from Cherbourg, Bon du Mouchel (1807-1846), himself a student of David (q.v.). Mouchel required his young apprentice to copy paintings in the museum in Cherbourg, where Millet had been sent to enter the studio of Lucien-Théophile Langlois (1803-1845), a former student of Gros (q.v.). Millet received a stipend from the city to move to Paris in 1837, enrolling in the École des Beaux-Arts in the studio of Delaroche (q.v.), where he met Couture (q.v.). Within two years he had left Delaroche, and his stipend was withdrawn. To earn a living, he executed pastels and small paintings in the style of Jean Antoine Watteau (1684-1729) and François Boucher (1703-1770). In 1839 the first painting that Millet sent to the Salon, Saint Anne Instructing the Virgin, was refused. The following year one portrait was accepted at the Salon, and Millet spent the winter in Cherbourg where he could make a living painting portraits. After his marriage to Pauline-Virginie Ono, he returned to Paris, painting various subjects but finding little success. He met Théodore Rousseau (q.v.) and Diaz de la Peña (q.v.) and was introduced to Durand-Ruel, who purchased some of his works, at that point mainly pastoral scenes and nudes. In the late 1840s Millet began to devote himself to painting peasants and rural life, subjects that automatically had political overtones in the light of the 1848 revolutions. In 1849 he settled in Barbizon, continuing his depictions of the peasantry. He achieved some financial security thanks to Alfred Sensier, who supplied him with materials and sold his paintings. At the Salon of 1850-51 Millet exhibited The Sower (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), which received a great deal of attention. Although the conservatives accused Millet of overemphasizing the poverty of the peasants, the republican and leftist movement hailed the painting as a dignified representation of the working class. Millet claimed to be interested solely in the biblical allusions of his subject, yet he seemed to persist in painting the poorest peasants at the worst tasks. The final ten years of his life were successful ones. A retrospective of his work at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1867 solidified his reputation, and the following year he received the Legion of Honor. His work was influential for generations of artists. --- measurements: Sheet: 29.5 x 45.9 cm (11 5/8 x 18 1/16 in.); Secondary Support: 36 x 50.9 cm (14 3/16 x 20 1/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: description: beige(1) laid paper, perimeter mounted to beige(1) wove paper watermarks: inscriptions: inscription: signed, lower right, in black chalk: J. F. Millet translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Year in Review (1963) opening date: 1963-11-27T05:00:00 Year in Review (1963). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 27, 1963-January 5, 1964). title: Drawings: France, Italy, Netherlands opening date: 1965-01-01T05:00:00 Drawings: France, Italy, Netherlands. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 1-March 24, 1965). title: French Drawings opening date: 1965-11-16T05:00:00 French Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1965-February 16, 1966). title: Jean-François Millet opening date: 1975-10-17T04:00:00 Jean-François Millet. Hayward Gallery, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (January 20-March 7, 1976); Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, 75008 Paris, France (organizer) (October 17-January 5, 1976). title: Seventeenth-, Eighteenth-, and Early Nineteenth-Century Genre and French Prints and Drawings opening date: 1979-05-31T04:00:00 Seventeenth-, Eighteenth-, and Early Nineteenth-Century Genre and French Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 31-August 19, 1979). title: Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism opening date: 1980-02-19T05:00:00 Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 19-March 23, 1980). title: The Graphic Art of the Barbizon School opening date: 1987-03-17T05:00:00 The Graphic Art of the Barbizon School. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 17-May 17, 1987). title: Directions in Drawing II: The Human Figure opening date: 1991-11-05T05:00:00 Directions in Drawing II: The Human Figure. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 5, 1991-January 12, 1992). title: French Drawings from the Collection opening date: 1994-12-13T05:00:00 French Drawings from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 13, 1994-March 12, 1995). title: Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2000-08-27T00:00:00 Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000). title: Pure Color: Pastels from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2016-11-19T05:00:00 Pure Color: Pastels from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 19, 2016-March 19, 2017). title: Nineteenth-Century French Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2023-01-20T05:00:00 Nineteenth-Century French Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 20-April 30, 2023). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Emile Gavet [1830-1904], Paris date: after 1859 - 1875 footnotes: *
Herbert in Paris/London 1975-76 includes in the provenance a work that sold at Drouot, Paris, 30 April 1888, as no. 5, which is incorrect, since this lot is a painting; no other works in the sale correspond to the Cleveland drawing.
citations: (his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, June 11–12, 1875, no. 80, sold to "Del") date: 1875 footnotes: citations: "Del" date: 1875-? footnotes: citations: (Rosenberg & Stiebel, Inc., New York) date: ?-1962 footnotes: citations: Mrs. Thomas H. Jones Sr. [Katharine Brooks Jones, d. 1979], Cleveland, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: 1962 footnotes: citations: Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1962- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: At the time this drawing was made, many critics disparaged Millet's depictions of peasants as politically radical. digital description: In the 1860s Jean-François Millet began to add pastel to his black chalk drawings of peasants and rural life, with the hope that the addition of color would make his monochromatic drawings more marketable. Between 1865 and 1869, he worked almost exclusively in pastel, producing more than 100 works. The taste for “enhanced” or “pastelled drawings,” as Millet described them, grew among collectors and artists, and inspired a revival of the medium in the 1870s and 1880s. Here, in a fenced-in garden behind a house, parents encourage their child to walk for the first time. Delicate passages of blue, green, yellow, and red enliven the composition. wall description: Jean-François Millet highlighted the dignity of French rural labor through intimate domestic scenes such as this one: a man pauses while gardening to support his child’s milestone, alluding to the value of self-sufficiency. Millet began by sketching in black crayon, later adding muted pastel. Red, white, and blue tones throughout evoke the importance of the drawing’s subject to a rapidly changing France. Cleveland’s drawing is one of several versions and came to the United States after Millet’s primary supporter, Emile Gavet, sold it to avoid bankruptcy. Seen as exemplifying American values, it was reproduced widely in advertisements and magazines. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Talbot, William S. "Jean-François Millet: Return from the Fields." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 60, no. 9 (1973): 259-66. page number: Mentioned: p. 265; Reproduced: p. 264 url: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25152497 Millet, Van Gogh. Exh. Cat. Paris: Musée d'Orsay, 1998. page number: Mentioned: p. 158 n. 33-34 url: Hitchcock, Ripley. "Millet and the Children." St. Nicholas 14, no. 3 (January 1887): 166-178. page number: Mentioned: p. 168 url: Soullié, Louis. Peintures, aquarelles, pastels, dessins de Jean-François Millet relevés dans les catalogues de ventes de 1849 à 1900. Paris: Librairie spéciale des catalogues de ventes annotés, 1900. page number: Mentioned: p. 121 url: Cartwright, Julia. Jean François Millet: His Life and Letters. New York: Macmillan, 1902. page number: Mentioned: p. 377 url: Gensel, Walther. Millet und Rousseau. Bielefelder: Velhagen & Klasing, 1902. page number: Reproduced: p. 57 url: Rolland, Romain. Millet. London: Duckworth, 1902. page number: Mentioned: p. X; Reproduced: p. 75 url: Holme, Charles, ed. Corot and Millet. New York: International Studio, 1903. page number: Reproduced: plate M17 url: Bénédite, Léonce. Les dessins de J.F. Millet. Paris: Hachette, 1906. page number: Mentioned: p. 24 url: Mireur, H. Dictionnaire des ventes d'art faites en France et à l'etranger pendant les XVIIIe & XIXe siècles. Paris: Vincenti, 1911. page number: Mentioned: vol. 5, p. 206 url: Diez, E. Jean François Millet. Bielefelder: Velhagen & Klasing, 1912. page number: Reproduced: p. 29 url: Veth, Jan. "Une même composition chez Joseph Israëls et chez Millet." L'Art flamand & hollandais 9, no. 17 (1912): 53-60. page number: Mentioned: pp. 55, 57-60; Reproduced: between pp. 58 url: Cox, Kenyon. Artist and Public. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1914. page number: Mentioned: pp. 65-66; Reproduced: plate 8 url: Moreau-Nélaton, Étienne. Millet raconté par lui-même. Paris: Henri Laurens, 1921. page number: Mentioned: vol. 2, pp. 38, 59, 192; Reproduced: between pp. 40 and 41; vol. 3, p. 127 url: Gsell, Paul. Millet. Paris: Rieder, 1928. page number: Mentioned: p. 55 url: Drawings by Jean-François Millet. Exh. Cat. Cardiff: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1956. page number: Mentioned: p. 35, under no. 50a url: Bouchot-Saupique, Jacqueline. Dessins de Jean-François Millet. Exh. Cat. Paris: Musée du Louvre, 1960. page number: Mentioned: p. 22, under no. 36 url: Some Paintings of the Barbizon School. Exh. Cat. London: Hazlitt Gallery, 1960. page number: Mentioned: p. 13, under no. 27 url: Chase, Alice Elizabeth. Famous Paintings. New York: Platt & Munk, 1962. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 11 url: Bacou, Roseline. Millet: One Hundred Drawings. New York: Harper & Row, 1975. page number: Mentioned: p. 206, under no. 43 url: Herbert, Robert L., Roseline Bacou, and Michel Laclotte. Jean-François Millet. Exh. Cat. Paris: Grand Palais, 1975. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: no. 97 url: Fermigier, André. Jean-François Millet. Geneva: Skira, 1977. page number: Mentioned: pp. 54, 62-63, 143; Reproduced: p. 63 url: Catalogue of Important Nineteenth Century European Drawings and Watercolours. London: Sotheby's, 1980. page number: Mentioned: under no. 75A url: Johnson, Mark M. Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1980. page number: Mentioned: pp. 62-64; Reproduced: p. 64 url: Les plus belles pages de la poésie française. Paris: Sélection du Reader's Digest, 1982. page number: Reproduced: pp. 380-381 url: Meixner, Laura L. An International Episode: Millet, Monet and their North American Counterparts. Exh. Cat. Memphis: Dixon Gallery and Gardens, 1982. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 85 url: Murphy, Alexandra R. Jean-François Millet. Exh. Cat. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1984. page number: Mentioned: p. 115 url: Meixner, Laura L. "Will Hicok Low (1853-1932): His Early Career and Barbizon Experience." American Art Journal 17, no. 4 (Autumn 1985): 51-70. page number: Mentioned: p. 59; Reproduced: p. 60 url: Tilborgh, Louis van, Sjraar van Heugten, and Philip Conisbee. Van Gogh & Millet. Exh. Cat. Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum, 1988. page number: Mentioned: p. 111, under no. 39 url: Lepoittevin, Lucien. Jean-François Millet, images et symboles. Cherbourg: Isoète, 1990. page number: Mentioned: p. 41 url: Fermigier, André. Millet. Geneva: Skira, 1991. page number: Mentioned: p. 58, 137; Reproduced: p. 63 url: 19th Century Continental Pictures, Watercolours and Drawings. London: Christie's, 1992. page number: Mentioned: 25, under no. 17 url: Kimura, Shigenobu. Urban Utopia. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1993. page number: Mentioned: pp. 64, 146; Reproduced: p. 64 url: 19th Century European Paintings, Drawings, Watercolors and Sculpture. New York: Christie's, 1994. page number: Mentioned: p. 70, under no. 91 url: Guégan, Stéphane. Millet peintre paysan. Paris: Flammarion, 1998. page number: Mentioned: p. 78; Reproduced: p. 79 url: Murphy, Alexandra R., Richard Rand, Brian T. Allen, et al. Jean-François Millet: Drawn into the Light. Exh. Cat. Williamstown, MA: Clark Art Institute, 1999. page number: Mentioned: p. 89, under no. 54 url: DeGrazia, Diane, and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000. page number: Mentioned: pp. 134-135, pp. 290-291, no. 53; Reproduced: p. 135 url: Manoeuvre, Laurent. Jean-François Millet, pastels et dessins. Paris: Bibliothèque de l'Image, 2002. page number: Reproduced: p. 19 url: Milesi, Silvana. Il padre nell'arte e nel tempo. Bergamo : Corponove, 2020, 23. page number: Reproduced and mentioned: p. 23 url: Salsbury, Britany. “Nineteenth-Century French Drawings: Acquiring the now-on-view collection.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 63, no. 1 (2023): 8-9. page number: Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 8. url: https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2023-01/page/n7 --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1962.407/1962.407_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1962.407/1962.407_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1962.407/1962.407_full.tif