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The Sheepfold, Moonlight

Jean-François Millet (French, 1814-1875)

1856-1860

oil on panel

H: 17 13/16 x W: 24 15/16 in. (45.3 x 63.4 cm); Framed H: 33 1/2 x W: 40 1/2 x H: 5 1/4 in. (85.09 x 102.87 x 13.34 cm)

Description
Although born into a peasant family in Normandy, Millet was thoroughly educated in literature and art. He nonetheless took pride in remaining true to his peasant background. In the late 1840s, he became acquainted with the Barbizon artists Théodore Rousseau, Narcisse Diaz de la Peña, Constant Troyon, and Antoine-Louis Barye. An outbreak of cholera in 1849 forced Millet to leave Paris with his family and settle in Barbizon. From the mid-1850s, Millet showed an increasing interest in landscape painting and, in particular, the effects of moonlight. Unlike his colleagues, who were primarily landscape painters, he specialized in scenes of peasant life. In this nocturnal scene, the waning moon throws a soft, mysterious light across the plain extending between the villages of Barbizon and Chailly. Millet's rendering was so precise that the scene has been identified by astronomers as taking place at 10:00 P.M. in mid-January. Of this painting, Millet wrote: "Oh, I wish I could make those who see my work feel the splendors and terrors of the night! One ought to be able to make people hear the songs, the silences, and the murmurings of the air."

A slightly smaller variation of this composition is in the Louvre Museum, Paris.
Additional Information

Le parc a moutons au clair de lune

Acquired by William T. Walters, 1884-1887

37.30

Charles Street: Third Floor: Renaissance Ceramics

[Signature] Lower right: J.F. Millet.

France


Provenance

Chevalier A. de Knyff [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Sale, Vente C (Carlin), Paris, April 29, 1872, no. 19; Mme. William Hooper, 1872, by purchase; William T. Walters, Baltimore, 1884-1887, by purchase; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1894, by inheritance; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

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