Lot Essay
This recently rediscovered drawing of a Woman Pouring Water into Milk Cans can be dated to about 1854-57 and is the earliest known version of a composition that Millet later translated into an oil painting, a "cliché verre" print, and two pastels.
The theme of a woman rinsing her milk cans with water from an old stone well first appeared in Millet's art following a visit to his native Norman village in the summer of 1854. Millet had been away from Normandy since 1845, living first in Paris, then in Barbizon after 1849; his return to the hamlet of Gruchy was marked by a concentrated effort to observe and record the countryside of his youth from the standpoint of his developing realism and his new commitment to peasant subject matter. He made numerous drawings of the buildings and terrain around his family home, as well as notations of such characteristic local activities as cow-milking and seaweed gathering. A landmark of particular significance to him was the conical stone wall abuting his family's barn; and soon after his return to Barbizon, Millet created both a drawing of The Well at Gruchy (sold at Christie's New York, February 28, 1991, no. 62) and a painting (London, Victoria and Albert Museum) that featured a recognizable (albeit rather over-sized) well at Gruchy, with a young Norman woman standing in front pouring water into a distinctive brass milk canne of the type common throughout the Cotentin region of Normandy.
The present drawing reorganizes the principle elements of that earlier composition to give critical prominence to the actions of the young woman herself and to play down the descriptive details of the setting. The well was pushed to the side and the farmyard simplified, while the figure was turned toward the right and considerably enlarged. Although the rural setting might now be Barbizon as easily as Gruchy, Millet retained the young woman's distinctive white Norman coif and the brass cannes that confirm the subject's nostalgic significance for the artist. Normandy was known throughout France for the quality and economic importance of its dairy products, and the care with which those cannes (used to collect milk from pasturing cows and to store it before processing as butter or cheese) were kept scrupulously clean and well polished was a measure of a milkmaid's diligence.
The significance of this drawing as the original design in a series that continues through a very similar painting of a year or two later (Japan, private collection), the cliché verre of 1862, and two pastels dating from the years 1866-68 (Japan, private collection and Paris, Musée d'Orsay) is underlined by Millet's retention of the young milkmaid's Norman coif (or head-dress) that ties the composition to the earlier Well at Gruchy works. All the later versions of a Woman Pouring Water into Milk Cans depict a woman wearing the headscarf distinctive of Barbizon or Chailly costume. Stylistic elements also confirm the drawing's early date, notably the use of significant amounts of white chalk and Millet's efforts to vary his stumping and hatching tones to simulate a strong coloristic range.
Among the several working drawings associated with the numerous versions of a Woman Pouring Water..., only the sketch previously in the collection of the late Sir Kenneth Clark is directly related to the present work.
We are grateful to Alexandra Murphy for her assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.
The theme of a woman rinsing her milk cans with water from an old stone well first appeared in Millet's art following a visit to his native Norman village in the summer of 1854. Millet had been away from Normandy since 1845, living first in Paris, then in Barbizon after 1849; his return to the hamlet of Gruchy was marked by a concentrated effort to observe and record the countryside of his youth from the standpoint of his developing realism and his new commitment to peasant subject matter. He made numerous drawings of the buildings and terrain around his family home, as well as notations of such characteristic local activities as cow-milking and seaweed gathering. A landmark of particular significance to him was the conical stone wall abuting his family's barn; and soon after his return to Barbizon, Millet created both a drawing of The Well at Gruchy (sold at Christie's New York, February 28, 1991, no. 62) and a painting (London, Victoria and Albert Museum) that featured a recognizable (albeit rather over-sized) well at Gruchy, with a young Norman woman standing in front pouring water into a distinctive brass milk canne of the type common throughout the Cotentin region of Normandy.
The present drawing reorganizes the principle elements of that earlier composition to give critical prominence to the actions of the young woman herself and to play down the descriptive details of the setting. The well was pushed to the side and the farmyard simplified, while the figure was turned toward the right and considerably enlarged. Although the rural setting might now be Barbizon as easily as Gruchy, Millet retained the young woman's distinctive white Norman coif and the brass cannes that confirm the subject's nostalgic significance for the artist. Normandy was known throughout France for the quality and economic importance of its dairy products, and the care with which those cannes (used to collect milk from pasturing cows and to store it before processing as butter or cheese) were kept scrupulously clean and well polished was a measure of a milkmaid's diligence.
The significance of this drawing as the original design in a series that continues through a very similar painting of a year or two later (Japan, private collection), the cliché verre of 1862, and two pastels dating from the years 1866-68 (Japan, private collection and Paris, Musée d'Orsay) is underlined by Millet's retention of the young milkmaid's Norman coif (or head-dress) that ties the composition to the earlier Well at Gruchy works. All the later versions of a Woman Pouring Water into Milk Cans depict a woman wearing the headscarf distinctive of Barbizon or Chailly costume. Stylistic elements also confirm the drawing's early date, notably the use of significant amounts of white chalk and Millet's efforts to vary his stumping and hatching tones to simulate a strong coloristic range.
Among the several working drawings associated with the numerous versions of a Woman Pouring Water..., only the sketch previously in the collection of the late Sir Kenneth Clark is directly related to the present work.
We are grateful to Alexandra Murphy for her assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.