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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1960.679
People
Jean-François Millet, French (Gruchy 1814 - 1875 Barbizon)
Title
Shepherdess Resting (Noon)
Other Titles
Original Language Title: La Meridienne
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
19th century
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/297001

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Brown ink and brown wash on cream antique laid paper
Dimensions
28.1 x 41.5 cm (11 1/16 x 16 5/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • seal: lower right, black ink: J.F.M
  • label: former mount, printed with lender and object number type written: Busch-Reisinger Museum / Loan / 256.59
  • label: former mount, type written with number hand-written in brown ink: CPLH / ARTIST Millet #49/ TITLE Shepherdess Resting / LENDER E.M.M. Warburg
  • label: former mount, printed in blue ink with type written lender and dates: COLORADO SPRINGS FINE ARTS CENTER / 30 WEST DALE STREET / COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO/ EXHIBITION / Warburg 7/1--9/5/65
  • label: former mount, hand written, black ink [Seligmann stock catalogue number]: 6632
  • label: former mount, printed with hand-written object number in red ink: Property of the Fogg Art Museum / 1960.679
  • label: former mount, printed with object information type written and number 6 in black ink: California Palace of the Legion of Honor / SAN FRANCISCO 21 CALIFORNIA / EXHIBITION Warburg Collection / ARTIST Millet / TITLE La Meridienne or / Shepherdess Sleeping / REG. NO. 534.50 DATE IN 6-22-50 / OWNER Mr. and Mrs. Edward / ADDRESS M.M. Warburg 6
  • label: former mount, printed with number type written: THE VIRGINIA MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS / L 25-58-2
  • label: former mount, printed with 5 hand written in graphite: NO. 5 / W.S. BUDWORTH & SON / PACKERS & SHIPPERS / 424 WEST 52D ST., NEW YORK, NY
  • inscription: former mount, black ink: J.F. MILLET
  • label: former mount, hand-written, black ink: [illegible numbers]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Marguerite Sensier (by 1881). [Jacques Seligmann & Co., New York, NY (by 1937-1940), sold, February 27, 1940]; to Edward M.M. Warburg, New York, NY (1940-1960), gift; to Fogg Art Museum, 1960.

Notes:
1. According to Alfred Sensier’s book “Jean-François Millet: Peasant and Painter” (1881; p. 82) the drawing was in the collection of Marguerite Sensier. Alfred Sensier died in 1877 and the book was completed and published posthumously.
2. It was initially thought that the drawing may have sold at the artist’s estate sale at Durand-Ruel, Paris, on April 25, 1894 because Frits Lugt erroneously associated the drawing’s mark (L.1460) with this sale (see 2010 addenda to L.1460 and L.3728 at the Fondation Custodia online).
3. The drawing is listed as number 6632 in the following Jacques Seligmann & Co. stock catalogues (Jacques Seligmann & Co. archives, Archives of American Art online): 1937-1938, 1938-1939, 1940-1941. The drawing may have been at Seligmann’s before 1937; it was sold in 1940.
4. In a letter to Edward M. M. Warburg dated February 29, 1940, Jacques Seligmann & Co. confirms the full payment of the invoice dated February 27 for this Millet drawing.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Edward M. M. Warburg
Accession Year
1960
Object Number
1960.679
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
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Publication History

  • Alfred Sensier, Jean-François Millet: Peasant and Painter, J. R. Osgood & Company (Boston, 1881), repr. on p. 82
  • "Dessins de J.-F. Millet (chez Brame)", La Renaissance (Paris, March 1938), p. 66, repr. p. 66
  • 19th Century French Drawings, exh. cat., California Palace of the Legion of Honor (San Francisco, CA, 1947), no. 49 p. 37
  • Alexandra R. Murphy, Jean-François Millet, exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Boston, 1984), p. 169 under cat. no. 133
  • Eric M. Rosenberg and Miriam Stewart, The Harvest of 1830: The Barbizon Legacy, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1990), p. 9

Exhibition History

  • 19th century French drawings, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 03/08/1947 - 04/06/1947
  • The Age of Romanticism, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 03/15/1986 - 05/18/1986
  • The Harvest of 1830: the Barbizon Legacy, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/25/1990 - 10/21/1990
  • 32Q: 3620 University Study Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 01/22/2022 - 05/08/2022

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu