Description
Jean-François Millet’s paintings of French rural life, especially those of peasants and farmers in their working environment, redefined the imagery of everyday life in the nineteenth century. Large-scale paintings such as The Gleaners (1857) presented the poorest of laborers with a dignity and nobility informed by classical traditions in French painting. At the same time he was working on major paintings for public exhibitions, Millet was also making smaller-scale drawings. Since drawings were less expensive, there was a much larger market for this type of work, and Millet created finished sheets in both black crayon and pastel as he catered to this demand. The work shown here is the first version of a theme the artist drew again in pastel in a more finished version (now lost). This crayon drawing shows, on the other hand, Millet’s thinking process. We can see him working out the composition because several changes are visible, most notably in the bowl held by the father and the cat in the window. Though taken from everyday life, Millet’s tender treatment of this family group recalls the biblical subject of the Holy Family.
Provenance
Estate of the artist [stamp, lower right, in black ink, Lugt 1460; verso, lower left, in black ink, Lugt Suppl. 1816a]. CHECK MILLET CATALOG, CHECK 1894 CAT OF MILLET'S WIDOW
Accession Number
1998.300
Medium
black crayon; framing lines in black crayon
Dimensions
Sheet: 40.4 x 32.1 cm (15 7/8 x 12 5/8 in.); Image: 32.9 x 24.9 cm (12 15/16 x 9 13/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Credit Line
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Paul J. Vignos Jr.
Tags
Drawing Impressionist & Modern (1851–1900) French
Background & Context
Background Story
The Sick Child from 1858 is a black crayon drawing depicting a child illness in the peasant milieu that was Millet's signature subject. The 1858 date places this in Millet's most productive period at Barbizon, when he was producing the peasant subjects that made him one of the most influential painters of the 19th century. The black crayon medium allows a directness and intimacy that the more deliberate oil paintings sometimes lack, and the subject of a sick child brings the pathos of peasant life into sharp focus in a way that the more heroic peasant subjects sometimes do not.
Cultural Impact
The Sick Child is important in Millet's oeuvre because it brings the pathos of peasant life into sharp focus in a way that the more heroic peasant subjects—the sower, the gleaners—sometimes do not. The 1858 drawing demonstrates that Millet's concern for the dignity of peasant life extended to the suffering as well as the labor of the rural poor, and the black crayon medium allows a directness and intimacy that makes the subject more immediate than the more deliberate oil paintings.
Why It Matters
The Sick Child is Millet at his most intimate and compassionate: a child illness in the peasant milieu rendered in black crayon with a directness and pathos that the more heroic peasant subjects sometimes lack. The 1858 drawing shows Millet's concern extending to the suffering as well as the labor of the rural poor.
