175 - Jean-François Millet (1814, Gruchy – Barbizon, 1875), *The Return from the Fields*.

Jean-François Millet (1814, Gruchy – Barbizon, 1875), *The Return from the Fields*. Charcoal on primed canvas, securely mounted in a mat. (Circa 1873). Approx. 29.5 x 32 cm (viewing dimensions). This sketch-like drawing depicts a peasant couple returning home from working in the fields. While the man with a pitchfork in the background on the left is only hinted at, the woman sits like a Madonna and Child, dominating the center of the composition on a donkey, similar to depictions of Mary and Joseph fleeing to Egypt. The drawing is applied directly onto a lightly tinted canvas primer and offers us a rare glimpse into the creative process behind Millet’s paintings. In the next stage of the process, the artist would have further developed the composition with a glazed brown paint before finally completing it with oil paints. A slightly more developed version of the same subject and technique was recently auctioned in London. Even though our drawing is only an initial sketch, it already reveals the full richness of the composition that would later become the painting “The Return from the Fields” (1873), which belongs to the artist’s late period. Provenance: Catherine Lemaire, Mme. J.-F. Millet, the artist’s widow (1827–1894), Paris; stamped lower left (Lugt 1815); Estate auction, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, April 24–25, 1894; Private collection, North Rhine-Westphalia. Taxation: subject to margin scheme (VAT: Margin Scheme).