A sherpherdess with her flock, a dog on a bank to the right

A related pastel at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Return of the flock, shows a similar composition but with a male shepherd (A. Murphy, ean-François Millet, exhib. cat., Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 1984, no. 109). A preparatory study for the present composition was sold anonymously at Beausant Lefevre, Paris, 16 December 1993, lot 39.
We are grateful to Dr Alexandra Murphy for confirming the attribution to Millet in the basis of a photograph, and for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.