Baby's Slumber
Artist
Jean-François Millet
(French, 1814-1875)
CultureFrench
Dateca. 1855
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions18 1/4 x 14 3/4 in. (46.4 x 37.5 cm)
Overall, Frame: 26 3/4 × 23 1/4 × 2 3/4 in. (68 × 59 × 7 cm)
Overall, Frame: 26 3/4 × 23 1/4 × 2 3/4 in. (68 × 59 × 7 cm)
InscribedSigned lower right: J. F. Millet
Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.
Object number71.517
Collections
Not on view
DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting. A mother sews while a baby sleeps in a rocking cradle at her feet. A man gardens to the left, seen through the open window.Label TextJean-François Millet French, 1814–1875 Baby's Slumber, ca. 1855 Oil on canvas Shh! A mother quietly sews while her baby soundly sleeps in the cradle and her husband labors int he garden outside. This scene of silence and rural contentment has an almost religious and timeless quality. Jean François Millet was the most important painter who left Paris for the innocence and unchanged countryside of Barbizon, 40 miles from Paris and close to the Forest of Fontainebleau. Both areas became artist's colonies, overrun with painters seeking to capture rural life and labor in an area untouched by industrialization. Their realistic style, learned from studying old Dutch painting in the Louvre, inspired Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.517 ProvenanceThe artist, ca. 1855-1861; probably Alfred Sensier, Paris, 1861; S.F. Barger; C.C. John S. and Robert S. Allen, Kenosha, Wisoncin; Castano Galleries, Boston; Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., 1953; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to the Chrysler Museum, 1971. Exhibition History"Cercle de l'Union artistique," Paris, 1862. "French Paintings 1789-1929 from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Dayton Art Institute, March 25 - May 22, 1960. "Paintings of the Barbizon School," Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, Jan. 6 - 29, 1962. "The Controversial Century 1850-1950," Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown, Massachusetts, and National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1962. "Jean-François Millet," Grand Palais, Paris, and Hayward Gallery, London, Oct. 17, 1975 - March 7, 1976. "Treasures from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk and Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Tennessee Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood, Nashville, June 12 - Sept. 5, 1977. "Veronese to Franz Kline: Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk," for the benefit of The Chrysler Museum Art Reference Library, Wildenstein & Co., New York, N. Y., April 13 - May 13, 1978. "Millet, Corot and the School of Barbizon," Seibu Museum, Toyko, Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo, Hiroshima Museum, Kitakyushu Municipal Museum, March 14 - Aug. 10, 1980. "Millet and his Barbizon Contemporaries," Keio Department Store, Tokyo; Hanshin Department Store, Osaka; Miyazaki Prefectural Institution; Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art; and Yamanshi Prefectural Museum of Art, Kofu, April 5 - Sept. 8, 1985. "French Painting from the Chrysler Museum," North Carolina Museum of Art, May 31 - Sept. 14, 1986; Birmingham Museum of Art, Nov. 6, 1986 - Jan. 18, 1987. "The Dignity of Humble People: Jean-François Millet and Naturalism in Europe," Nippon Television Network Europe, Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan, April 10 - July 13, 2003; Fukuoka City Museum of Art, Japan, July 24 - September 26, 2003. "Reopening of the Joan P. Brock Galleries," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., Opening in March of 2008. "The Agrarian Ideal: Monet, van Gogh, Homer," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, October 7, 2016 - January 8, 2017. "Jean-François Millet," Palais Beaux-Arts, Lille, France, October 12, 2017 - January 21, 2018Published ReferencesPriscilla C. Colt and Charles H. Elam. _French Paintings 1789-1929 from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr._. Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, Ohio. 1960. No.28. Foreword by Charles F. Comfort, LL.D., and an introduction by William S.A. Dale, Ph.D. _The Controversial Century: 1850-1950_. Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown, Massachusetts. 1962. Not paged. Dennis R. Anderson. "Chrysler Art on Loan," _Chrysler Museum Bulletin_. Vol. 3, no. 11. 12/1974. E.Z. "Millet Painting Returns from Louvre," _Chrysler Museum Bulletin_. Vol. 4, no. 11. 11/1975. Eric M. Zafran and Mario Amaya. _Treasures from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk and Walter P. Chrysler, Jr._. Tennessee Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood, Nashville. 1977. No. 31. Eric M. Zafran and Mario Amaya. _Veronese to Franz Kline: Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk_. Norfolk, VA: The Chrysler Museum. 1978. No. 19. Mario Amaya. "Contrasts and Comparisons in French Nineteenth Century Painting," _Apollo_. 107: 194. 04/1978: 16-25, ill. Chrysler Museum. _Selections from the Permanent Collection: The Chrysler Museum_. Norfolk, VA: Chrysler Museum of Art. 1982: 54. Gabriel P. Weisberg. _Millet and his Barbizon Contemporaries_. Tokyo, Japan: Art Life Ltd. 1985: 124-125, no. 21. Laura L. Meixner. "Will Hicok Low (1853-1932): His Early Career and Barbizon Experience," _The American Art Journal_. Vol. XVII, no. 4. 08/1985: 55-58; fig. 7, 57. Jefferson C. Harrison. "Nineteenth-Century French Art - Part I," _The Chrysler Museum Gallery Guide_. Norfolk, VA: Chrysler Museum. 1985: 5, no. 8. Jefferson C. Harrison. _French Paintings from the Chrysler Museum_. The Chrysler Museum. 1986. No. 28, 55-56. *See for further references. . "Jean Francois Millet," _Asahi Graph Magazine Special Issue_. 09/1989: no. 27, color illustration. Michael Fried. _Courbet's Realism_. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 1990: 41-42; ill. fig. 26, 42. Susan Bracaglia Tobey. _Art of Motherhood_. New York: Abbeville Press Publishers. 1991: color ill. 7; no. 33, 58. Shohei Iida. _J.F. Millet_. Tokyo: NTV. 1991: no. 43, 94; color ill. 95. Jefferson C. Harrison, _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_ (Norfolk: The Chrysler Museum, 1991), 102, no. 80. Journey into the Masterpieces Series. _Urban Utopia (19th Century II)_. Tokyo: Kodansha, Ltd. 1993: No. 3-55, 75. Regine Pötzsch. _Sleep in Art_. Basel: Editiones Roche. 1993: 69, color ill. Shogo Takeda, et al. _Weekly Paintings of the World (Japanese text)_. Spring 2000, No. 13. Japan: Shogakukan. 04/2000: 10, Japanese text. Judy Sund, _Van Gogh_ (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 2002), 235-278, 242 ill. _La Dignité des humbles: Jean-François Millet et le naturalisme en Europe_, exh. cat., Bunkamura Museum of Art, Toyko, Japan, 2003, 62-63, fig. 13. Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 40, fig. 36. Chantal Georgel, _Millet_ (Paris: Citadelles and Mazenod, 2014) 354, fig. 343.
