Currently not on view
Bringing Home the Calf Born in the Fields,
begun ca. 1860
Millet began this first version of his celebrated composition around 1860 but abandoned the canvas in order to paint a larger version, now in the Art Institute of Chicago, which he exhibited at the Salon of 1864. Like Millet’s other scenes of rural life, the painting was criticized because the peasants were not idealized. Some critics also considered the solemn, almost religious, atmosphere of the procession to be at odds with the lowly subject matter. The Salon picture was purchased by an American, and this smaller, unfinished canvas was exhibited in its place at the commemorative Millet exhibition of 1887. Vincent van Gogh, who saw the painting there, described it in a letter to Émile Bernard as a work "so powerful it made one tremble."
More Context
The first, unfinished version of <em>Bringing Home the Calf Born in the Fields</em> by Jean-François Millet (French, 1814–1875) is the gem among the paintings recently given to the Museum by Dr. and Mrs. A. Richard Turner. Begun around 1860, the work depicts a scene from rural life. Farmers, followed by the mother cow, solemnly convey a newborn calf to the barn. This sketched-in painting was abandoned when Millet decided to prepare a larger version of the same composition for exhibition in the French Salon, where it was shown in 1864. That painting, now in the Art Institute of Chicago, was already in the United States by 1887, so the present sketch was shown at the retrospective exhibition of Millet’s work held that year; Vincent van Gogh, who saw the painting there, lauded its power in a letter to his friend Émile Bernard. A strong and moving work, it is also a document of Millet's working method. This major addition to the collection joins the important Millet drawing in charcoal, <em>The Goose Girl</em>, given to the Museum by the Turners in 1985.
Information
begun ca. 1860
Alfred Saucede (a), (c)
Dutz (a), (b)
David C. Lyall, New York, 1903 (b)
John F. Dryden, Newark, New Jersey
Frank J. Mather Jr. (a)
Dr and Mrs A Richard Turner, Grinnell, Iowa, New York (a) (d)
(a) Catalogue, exhibition, "French 19th century oil sketches: David to Degas," William Hayes Ackland Art Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, March 5- April 16, 1978, pp.103-104
(b) Catalogue, An Eastern Art Museum and other Collections Sale, Parke-Bernet, New-York, February @, 1950, p.28
(c) Catalogue, Alfred Saucede collection sale, Paris, February 14, 1879, p.30
(d) FARL Authority of Private Collections
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La petite revue, troisième trimestre (21 Mai au 13 Août 1864)
, p. 67 - Catalogue de tableaux modernes et anciens, dessins et aquarelles formant la collection de M. Alfred Saucede: Vente Hotel Drouot, salle n#8, Vendredi 14 Fevrier 1879 (Paris, 1879), p. 30, no. 35
- Victor Champier, L'année artistique, deuxième année (1880):134, p. 134
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Paul Mantz, Catalogue descriptif des peintures, aquarelles, pastels, dessins réhaussés, croquis et eaux-fortes de J.F. Millet. Réunis à l'école des Beaux_arts, Quai Malaquais par les soins d'un comité au profit de la souscription pour élever un monument à la mémoire du maître (Paris:Quantin, 1887)
, p. 49 - Louis Soullié, Les Grands peintres aux ventes publiques II, Jean- Francois Millet (Paris: Louis Soullié, 1900)., p. 35
- Etienne Moreau-Nélaton, Millet raconté par lui-même (Paris: Henri Laurens Editeur, 1921)., pp. 71-74
- Robert L. Herbert, "Millet Reconsidered", Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, Vol.I (1966) : 52, p.52
- Anne Reverdy, L'Ecole de Barbizon, Evolution du prix des tableaux de 1850 à 1960 (Paris: Mouton and co, 1973): 18., p. 18
- Robert L Herbert, Michel Laclotte and Roseline Bacou, Jean-Francois Millet: [exhibition], Hayward Gallery, 22 January-7 March 1976, (London: Arts Council of Great Britian, 1976)., cat. no. 88; p. 143
- John Major Wisdom, "French nineteenth century oil sketches: David to Degas", March 5- April 16, 1978, (The William Hayes Ackland Memorial Art Center, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1978) : P.103, cat. no 50, p.103, cat. no. 50
- Johan Laurentz Jensen (1800-1856): father of Danish flower painting: [exhibition] November 19, 1988 to January 7, 1989, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, (New York, NY: The Galleries, 1988).
- The complete letters of Vincent Van Gogh with reproductions of all the drawings in the correspondence, Vol. III, (Boston: Bulfinch Press Book Little, Brown and Company, 2000): 521 , p. 521
- "Acquisitions of the Princeton University Art Museum 2010," Record of the Princeton University Art Museum 70 (2011): p. 69-110., p. 86; p. 88 (illus.)
- Marije Vellekoop, Van Gogh at work, (Brussels: Mercatorfonds; Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum, 2013)., p. 206 (illus.)
- Chantal Georgel, (Paris: Millet,Citadelles et Mazenod, 2014): 204, 205 (illus.), p. 204, p.205 (illus.)
