Peasant Woman Guarding Her Cow
Artist
Jean-François Millet
(French, 1814-1875)
CultureFrench
Dateca. 1857
MediumBlack chalk with white heightening on paper, mounted on board
DimensionsOverall: 12 3/8 x 17 1/8 in. (31.4 x 43.5 cm)
InscribedLower right: J. F. Millet
Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.
Object number71.2128
Not on view
DescriptionBlack chalk drawing with white heightening on paper depicting a young woman who is knitting while pasturing her cow on a country path.Label TextJean-François Millet French (1814-1875) Peasant Woman Guarding Her Cow, ca. 1857 Black chalk with white heightening on paper, mounted on board Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.2128 Millet led the influential group of landscape and peasant genre painters who worked from 1850 in the village of Barbizon southeast of Paris. His straightforward Realist style is splendidly revealed in the large drawing here. In the nineteenth century, French peasants not prosperous enough to own land had to stand guard over their cows as they grazed to make sure they did not wander into fields belonging to others. The numbing, day-long task of pasturing the cow -often a poor family's most valued possession- was typically assigned to an older daughter. In Millet's drawing the young woman has found a secure grazing spot for her family's cow along a public road. To pass the time she engages in knitting. As with all of Millet's peasant figures, this country lass is portrayed as a noble figure of quiet strength, who patiently perseveres despite the hardships of a life on the land. ProvenanceAcquired from the artist by Quincy Adams Shaw, Boston; inherited by Robert Gould Shaw; Paul Shaw, Boulder Farm, Newton; Sale, American Art Association; Victor Spark, New York City; Giovanni Castano, Boston; purchased by Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., 1953; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to the Chrysler Museum, 1971. Exhibition History"The Controversial Century 1850-1950," Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown, Massachusetts, and National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1962. (Exhib. cat. no. 117). "One Hundred Drawings in the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk," The Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, March 2 - May 6, 1979. (Exhib. cat. no. 63). "An International Episode: Millet, Monet, and their North American Counterparts," The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, TN, Nov. 21, 1982 - Jan. 2, 1983; Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, IL, Jan. 9, 1983 - April 30, 1983. (Exhib. cat. no. 8). "Millet and his Barbizon Contemporaries," April - Sept., 1985, Japan: Keio Department Store, April 5 - 24, 1985; The Hanshin Department Store, Ltd, May 2 - 14, 1985; The Miyazaki Prefectural Institution, May 18 - June 23, 1985; Fukushima Prefectural Museum of Art, June 29 - July 28, 1985; Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art, Aug. 4 - Sept. 8, 1985. "Touch of Genius: Master Drawings from Norfolk Collections," The Chrysler Museum at Seaboard Center, Norfolk, VA, Aug. 25 - Oct. 10, 1986. "Master Drawings from the Chrysler Museum," Small Changing Gallery, The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA, February 26 - April 23, 1989. "The Rise of Landscape Painting in France: Corot to Monet," High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA, Jan. 28 - March 29, 1992; IBM Gallery of Science and Art, NYC, July 30 - Sept. 28, 1991; Dallas Museum of Art, TX, Nov. 10, 1991 - Jan. 5, 1992; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA, Jan. 28 - March 29, 1992. (Exhib. cat. no. 88). "France Delineated: French Works on Paper, 1650 to 1920," The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA, July 13 - September 19, 1993. "Grand Designs: Preliminary Drawings and Oil Sketches from The Chrysler Museum," Prints and Drawings Gallery, The Chrysler Museum, April 2 - June 22, 1994. "Jean-François Millet. Drawn into the Light," Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, June 20 - September 7. 1999; Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, October 26, 1999 - January 5, 2000. "Behind the Seen: The Chrysler's Hidden Museum," Large Changing Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., October 21, 2005 - February 19, 2006. "Reopening of the Joan P. Brock Galleries," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., Opening in March of 2008. "Man's Best Friends," Selden Arcade, Norfolk, VA, August 27 - October 19, 2013. "The Agrarian Ideal: Monet, van Gogh, Homer," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, October 7, 2016 - January 8, 2017.Published ReferencesEric M. Zafran. _One Hundred Drawings in the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk_. Chrysler Museum. 1979. No. 63, pp. 26-27. Chrysler Museum. _Selections from the Permanent Collection: The Chrysler Museum_. Norfolk, VA: Chrysler Museum of Art. 1982: p. 123. Exhibition catalog. _Millet and his Barbizon Contemporaries_. Keio Department Store, Tokyo; Hanshin Department Store, Osaka; Miyazaki Prefectural Institution, Fukushima; and Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art, Kofu. 1985. No. 26. Kermit S. Champa; with contributions by Fronia E. Wissman and Deborah Johnson; introduction by Richard R. Brettell. _The Rise of the Landscape Painting in France: Corot to Monet_. Manchester, N.H.: Currier Gallery of Art. 1991. No. 88. Jefferson C. Harrison. _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_. Norfolk, VA: The Chrysler Museum, 1991, No. 81, p. 103, ill. in color. Alexandra R. Murphy, et. al. _Jean-François Millet. Drawn into the Light_. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in association with The Frick Art & Historical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, and Yale University Press, New Haven, 1999, No. 45, p. 80, ill. in color. Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 92, fig. 109. ISBN: 978-0-940744-72-1
