id: 146752 accession number: 1972.19 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1972.19 updated: 2024-03-26 01:59:31.530000 Return from the Fields, c. 1846–47. Jean-François Millet (French, 1814–1875). Oil on fabric; framed: 68 x 60 x 10 cm (26 3/4 x 23 5/8 x 3 15/16 in.); unframed: 46.2 x 37.8 cm (18 3/16 x 14 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1972.19 title: Return from the Fields title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1846–47 creation date earliest: 1846 creation date latest: 1847 current location: creditline: Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund copyright: --- culture: France, 19th century technique: oil on fabric department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture collection: Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960 type: Painting 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 Within two years he had left Delaroche, and his stipend was withdrawn.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: Framed: 68 x 60 x 10 cm (26 3/4 x 23 5/8 x 3 15/16 in.); Unframed: 46.2 x 37.8 cm (18 3/16 x 14 7/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Signed lower right: J. F. Millet translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Year in Review: 1972 opening date: 1973-02-27T05:00:00 Year in Review: 1972. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 27-March 18, 1973). 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: Return to Nature: Millet, the Barbizon Artists, and the Renewal of the Rural Tradition opening date: 1998-09-26T00:00:00 Return to Nature: Millet, the Barbizon Artists, and the Renewal of the Rural Tradition. Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art, Kofu (September 26-December 8, 1998). title: L'Ecole de Barbizon opening date: 2002-06-20T00:00:00 L'Ecole de Barbizon. Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, 69001 Lyon, France (organizer) (June 20-September 9, 2002). title: Praised and Ridiculed: French Painting 1820 - 1880 opening date: 2017-11-10T05:00:00 Praised and Ridiculed: French Painting 1820 - 1880. Kunsthaus Zürich, CH-8024 Zürich, Switzerland (organizer) (November 10, 2017-January 28, 2018). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * {'description': 'Glasgow. International Exhibition (1901), no. 1323, The Last Load, lent by W. A. Coats, Esq.', 'opening_date': '1901-01-01T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Paris, Grand Palais; London, Hayward Gallery. Jean-François Millet (1975-76), no. 22 (repr.), (no. 12 in English cat.).', 'opening_date': '1975-01-01T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Køfu, Japan. Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art. Return to Nature: J. F. Millet, the Barbizon Artists, and the Renewal of the Rural Tradition (1998), 22, 108, no. ii-13, 124 (repr.).', 'opening_date': '1998-01-01T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'Lyon, France. Musee des Beaux-Arts de Lyon. "L\'Ecole de Barbizon" (6/20/2002 - 9/9/2002), exh cat no. 82, p.246.', 'opening_date': '2002-06-20T00:00:00'} --- PROVENANCE John W. Wilson. His sale, Paris, Drouot, 27-28 April 1874 (lot 113), Retour des Champs, ff 8,200. Frédéric Hartmann, Münster. His sale, Paris, Drouot, 11 May 1876 (lot 24), Retour des champs, 45 x 38 cm, ff 6,350. W. A. Coats, Scotland, 1901. London sale, Christie's, 10 June 1927 (lot 74), The Last Load, for £483 to Blaker. D. Croal Thompson, 1928. Howard Murray, Montreal. His sale, New York, Parke-Bernet Galleries, 23 October 1941 (lot 34, repr.), bought by L. J. Marion. Hazlitt Gallery, London. Purchased by the CMA in 1972. date: footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1972.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 60, no. 3 (March 1973): 63–115. page number: Reproduced: p. 83; Mentioned: p. 109, no. 124 url: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25093732 Talbot, William S. “Jean-François Millet: Return from the Fields.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 60, no. 9 (November 1973): 258–266. page number: Reproduced: Cover, p. 258; Mentioned: p. 259 url: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25152497 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 207 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n227 Argencourt, Louise d', and Roger Diederen. Catalogue of Paintings. Pt. 4. European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 442-444, Vol. II, no. 153 url: Gianfreda, Sandra. "Introduction." In Praised and Ridiculed: French Painting 1820-1880. Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft, ed., 12-19. Munich: Hirmer; Zürich: Kunsthaus Zürich, [2017]. page number: Mentioned: p. 17; Reproduced: p. 108, cat. 78 url: Rubin, James. "Landscape into Modernity: Nineteenth-Century Transitions." In Praised and Ridiculed: French Painting 1820-1880. Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft, ed., 56-66. Munich: Hirmer; Zürich: Kunsthaus Zürich, [2017]. page number: Mentioned: p. 66; Reproduced: p. 108, cat. 78 url: Herring, Sarah. The Nineteenth-Century French Paintings. London : National Gallery Company, 2019. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: pp.385-386, fig. 4 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1972.19/1972.19_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1972.19/1972.19_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1972.19/1972.19_full.tif