Study for a gardener watering his plot and two women

This spontaneous impression of a gardener watering his plot was executed by Millet with his signature handling of chalk, loose yet confident. Previously unknown, it is a preliminary composition for a finished drawing (London, private collection) prepared by the artist on a number of studies, including a similar drawing at the Musée d'Orsay (inv. RF 5794) and an outline sketch for the gardener alone, in reverse , at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (A. Murphy, Jean-François Millet, New York and Boston, 1984, no. 84, ill.).