id: 166682
accession number: 2008.395
share license status: CC0
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2008.395
updated: 2024-03-26 02:01:12.407000
Liberty, 1848–49. Jean-François Millet (French, 1814–1875). Black chalk and pastel; sheet: 47.2 x 31.7 cm (18 9/16 x 12 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Muriel Butkin 2008.395
title: Liberty
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: 1848–49
creation date earliest: 1848
creation date latest: 1849
current location:
creditline: Bequest of Muriel Butkin
copyright:
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culture: France, 19th century
technique: black chalk and pastel
department: Drawings
collection: Drawings
type: Drawing
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
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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 Within two years he had left Delaroche, and his stipend was withdrawn.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.
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measurements: Sheet: 47.2 x 31.7 cm (18 9/16 x 12 1/2 in.)
state of the work:
edition of the work:
support materials:
description: beige modern laid paper
watermarks:
inscriptions:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin
opening date: 2001-08-26T00:00:00
French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26-October 28, 2001); Dahesh Museum of Art (February 19-May 18, 2002).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
* {'description': 'Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge (before 1939).', 'opening_date': '1939-01-01T00:00:00'}
* {'description': 'Non-Dissenters: Fifth Exhibition Marking Our Tenth Anniversary. Shepherd Gallery, New York (November 1-December 31, 1976).', 'opening_date': '1976-11-01T00:00:00'}
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PROVENANCE
Quincy Adams Shaw [1825-1908], Boston, by descent within family
date: ?-1908
footnotes:
citations:
Family of Quincy Adams Shaw, Boston
date: 1908-1939
footnotes:
citations:
(Parke-Bernet, New York, Nov. 24, 1939, no. 12)
date: 1939
footnotes:
citations:
Beatrice H. Shore, New York, sold to Shepherd Gallery, New York
date: ?-1976
footnotes:
citations:
(Shepherd Gallery, New York, sold to Muriel Butkin, Shaker Heights, OH)
date: 1976-
footnotes:
citations:
Muriel Butkin [1916-2008], Shaker Heights, OH, by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
date: 1976-2008
footnotes:
citations:
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
date: 2008-
footnotes:
citations:
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fun fact:
digital description:
wall description:
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
Parke Bernet Galleries, New York. Property of Robert Cluett, Jr., J. Theus Munds, John P. Grier, and Other Owners. November 24, 1939. Lot 12.
page number: Mentioned: p. 3, no. 12
url:
Shepherd Gallery. Non-Dissenters Fifth Exhibition: One Hundred and Seventy French Nineteenth Century Drawings, Pastels and Watercolors. Exh. Cat. New York: Shepherd Gallery, 1976.
page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 130
url:
Masheck, Joseph, "Current and Forthcoming Exhibitions: New York," Burlington Magazine 119, no. 889 (April 1977), 307-308.
page number: Mentioned: p. 308
url:
Toussaint, Hélène. "Le Réalisme de Courbet au service de la satire politique et de la propagande gouvernementale," Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art français (1979), 233-244.
page number: Mentioned: 238, 244, no. 16
url:
Laughton, Bruce, The Drawings of Daumier and Millet. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991.
page number: Mentioned: p. 66; Reproduced: p. 67, fig. 5.19
url:
Foster, Carter E., Sylvain Bellenger, and Patrick Shaw Cable. French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001.
page number: Mentioned: cat. no. 35, p. 80-81; Reproduced: p. 81
url:
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IMAGES
web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2008.395/2008.395_web.jpg
print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2008.395/2008.395_print.jpg
full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2008.395/2008.395_full.tif