The Goose Girl

Description A young girl, identifiable as a peasant by her kerchief and her work-roughened hands and feet, extends her leg to dip a heel into the stream. In this painting, Millet refers to a long tradition in European art of depicting the idealized female nude in a natural setting, often in the guise of a mythological figure. The artist reworks this convention from a Realist perspective, emphasizing the goose girl's working-class status, adolescent body, and vulnerable pose. Millet developed this composition through numerous studies made over a period of seven years.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
10/25/1951	Treatment	cleaned; coated
9/17/1964	Examination	examined for loan
3/24/1975	Treatment	loss compensation; coated; other
7/25/1991	Treatment	coated
9/02/1998	Examination	examined for loan
8/22/2006	Examination	examined for loan

Exhibitions

• From Ingres to Gauguin: French Nineteenth Century Paintings Owned in Maryland. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore. 1951.
• Birth of Impressionism. Pace Wildenstein Gallery, New York. 1963.
• Man: Glory, Jest, and Riddle, A Survey of the Human Form Through the Ages. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco. 1964-1965.
• Before Monet: Landscape Painting in France and Impressionist Masters: Highlights from The Walters Collection. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1998.
• Drawn into the Light: Jean-François Millet. The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown; Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum, AJ Amsterdam; The Frick Art & Historical Center, Pittsburgh. 1999-2000.
• Triumph of French Painting: Masterpieces from Ingres to Matisse. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore; Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa; Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach; Dayton Art Institute, Dayton; Royal Academy of Arts, London; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo. 2000-2002.
• A Magnificent Age: Masterpieces from the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte. 2002-2004.
• The Road to Impressionism: Landscapes from Corot to Manet. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2004-2005.
• The Road to Impressionism: Barbizon Landscapes from the Walters Art Museum. The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis; The Frick Art & Historical Center, Pittsburgh. 2008-2009.
• 19th Century Masterpieces from the Walters Art Museum. Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara; Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, Austin. 2010-2011.
• Jean-François Millet. Palais des Beaux Arts de Lille, Lille. 2017-2018.
• Millet and Modern Art: Van Gogh to Dalí. Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum, AJ Amsterdam; Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis. 2019-2020.

Provenance Ennemond Blanc [dealer], 1865, by purchase [from the artist]; Van Praet, Brussels [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; J. Saulnier, Bordeaux [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Mme Vve. Saulnier Sale, Paris, 1886, no. 64 [illus. 29]; Sedelmeyer Sale, Paris, March 25, 1892, no. 10; Henri Heugel, Paris [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Henri Heugel Sale, Paris, May 26, 1905, no. 12; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1905, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Inscriptions [Signature] At lower left: J. F. Millet

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1905