Jean-François Millet (French, 1814-1875) Study... Lot 80

Jean-François Millet (French, 1814-1875) Study for The Child Sleeping Black stone. Studio stamp lower right (L.1460). Height 19 Width 14 cm. (slightly oiled, a few spots). Provenance: collection of a Touraine château. Jean-François Millet, mid-1800s. A black stone study for "Baby's Slumber", a painting belonging in the collections of the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, VA . Our drawing is preparatory to the painting Le Sommeil de l'Enfant in the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, Virginia, dated 1854-1856 (see "Jean-François Millet", exhibition catalog, National Museums Edition, Paris 1975, October 17, 1975-January 5, 1976, fig.83, p.124 rep.). The Louvre's Cabinet des Dessins holds another version of the same subject, with the child looking out of the window (RF.5671). SELF-PORTRAIT THROUGH THE WINDOW, by Hortense Lugand Jean-François Millet settled in Barbizon in 1849 and used his experiences, his family and neighbors, to paint his daily life and become one with his subject. This was a very difficult period in Millet's life, as he lived in a small thatched cottage with his wife Catherine and their four children. They had nine children in all. During this period, the painter struggled to sell and had to work in the fields to support his family. He therefore produced a number of drawings depicting scenes of rural life for amateurs, which he sold for around a hundred francs. This drawing, done in black stone, is probably a sketch for a larger canvas. Le Sommeil de l'enfant This drawing can be compared with the Sommeil de l'Enfant at the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, Virginia, as the two compositions are very similar. However, in the Chrysler painting, Millet did not depict himself holding a palette, as in this drawing, but busy gardening. In one interior, a seated woman picks up a garment and cradles her sleeping child in a cradle. This is probably Émilie Henriette Millet, the couple's fifth child, born on March 4, 1856. Through the open window, a man appears seated in front of his painted easel, probably a representation of the painter himself. Our drawing occupies a very singular place in the Jean François Millet corpus, since it offers a previously unpublished representation of Millet the painter. It is part of Millet's research, at this time, into the representation of mother and child and the sewing woman. Diaz's testimony In his chronicles, published in 1876, American painter Edouard Wheelwright recalls his visit to Millet's studio in the summer of 1846, in the company of painter Narcisse Diaz de la Pena. He wrote: "I have never seen anything of more graceful beauty in my life: through the open window, you could see, in the garden, the back of a peasant at work. The impression was that of a warm summer's day. Everything about this peaceful scene suggested calm, silence and well-being. The silence emanating from the canvas imposed itself for a few minutes on its viewers. Diaz exclaimed, "Well! Now that's biblical". Through the figure of the seamstress, Millet expresses his attachment to his wife. "I shall never forget the tone of affectionate tenderness with which he addressed her, calling her 'my old lady' and pressing his strong hand familiarly on her shoulder", writes Wheelwright. Sketch of an unrealized painting The painting of Le Sommeil de l'Enfant was a great success at the time of its realization, and passed from Sensier's hands to those of Belgian dealer Arthur Stevens, before leaving France for England in 1865. The Memoirs of Etienne Moreau-Nélaton mention a second version of Le Sommeil de l'Enfant, commissioned by the collector Paul Tesse in 1858. Our drawing may have served as a preparatory sketch for this second version, which was never delivered by the artist. No other preparatory drawing for the Norfolk canvas is known to exist, apart from the Study for the Sleep of the Child in the Louvre, which is far removed from the original version. It is therefore a new sheet for understanding the painter's work. In choosing not to include this version of Le Sommeil de l'Enfant, Millet chose to leave behind only the image of a "peasant farmer" rather than that of a "peasant painter".