Peasant Spreading Manure (Paysan répandant du fumier)
Artist
Jean-François Millet
French, 1814–1875
Date1854–1855
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions32 x 44 in. (81.3 x 111.8 cm)
Frame: 39 1/2 x 52 x 5 1/2 in. (100.3 x 132.1 x 14 cm)
Frame: 39 1/2 x 52 x 5 1/2 in. (100.3 x 132.1 x 14 cm)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LinePurchased with funds from the North Carolina State Art Society (Robert F. Phifer Bequest)
Object numberG.52.9.128
On View
On view[1] Not in his estate sale 1867.
[2] Hartmann was apparently also a patron of Millet’s. According to Alexandra R. Murphy, “Chronology,” in Jean–François Millet, exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1984, p. xx, in 1868 Frédéric Hartmann, previously a major patron of Rousseau, commissioned Four Seasons from Millet. The introductory essay of the catalogue by Susan Fleming, “The Boston Patrons of Jean-François Millet,” discusses the relationship between Boston collectors and Millet beginning in the early 1850s, “almost two decades before other Americans and the French took serious interest in his work” [p. ix].
[3] Vose Gallery records at GRI record Higgenson as the buyer of a number of paintings by Millet but the descriptions are too imprecise to identify whether this painting was one of them.
[4] The painting was lent by Francis Lee Higginson to the Museum of Fine Arts Boston on May 23, 1910 (loan no. 72.15), re-lent January 20, 1915 (loan no. 803.10), and returned to him on March 5, 1915. Francis Lee Higginson was a member of the Boston banking firm of Lee, Higginson & Company, with which his father, uncle, and brother were also connected. His brother, Henry Lee Higginson (1834–1919) was a founder and patron of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Henry’s brother-in-law was the Boston collector and patron of Millet, Quincy Adams Shaw. The Higginson family were collectors connected with the MFA Boston. Francis was a trustee (from 1900) and served as treasurer of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston from 1906 until his resignation in 1917. His estate sale took place on 8 January 1930 at Anderson Gallery, New York. This painting was not included in the sale.
Published ReferencesAlfred Sensier, Jean-François Millet: Peasant and Painter, translated by Helena de Kay (Boston: James R. Osgood and Co., 1881), 94-95, 113-114.
L[ouis] Souillé, Jean-François Millet (Paris, 1900), 52.
21 Great Paintings (exhibition catalogue) (Colorado Springs: Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, 1947), cat. no. 15, illus.
W. R. Valentiner, Catalogue of Paintings: Including Three Sets of Tapestries (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1956), no. 156 (as Peasant Working in the Field).
We the People (September 1963), 11, illus.
"Biennial Report of Public Information Office: State Periodical Coverage," North Carolina Museum of Art Bulletin 6, no. 4 and 7, no. 1 (1966/67?), listed 43.
Robert F. Phifer Collection (exhibition catalogue) (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1973), 54, illus. (b-w) 55.
Jean-François Millet (exhibition catalogue) (Paris: Grand Palais, 1975), cat. no. 60, illus. English translation: Jean-François Millet (Arts Council of Great Britain, 1976), 81-82, illus.
Yuzo Iida, J.F. Millet (Tokyo: Kodnasha, 1979), 196, illus. (color) pl. 25.
Edgar Peters Bowron, ed., Introduction to the Collections (Chapel Hill: published for the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, by The University of North Carolina Press, 1982), illus. (b-w) 157.
Eric M. Zafran, French Salon Paintings from Southern Collections (exhibition catalogue) (Atlanta: High Museum of Art, 1982), cat. no. 54, illus.
Louis van Tilborgh, Van Gogh & Millet (exhibition catalogue) (Zwolle: published by Waanders for Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, Amsterdam, 1989), cat. no. 5, illus.
Introduction to the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1992), illus. (b-w) 137.
Joseph P. Covington, entry for Peasant Spreading Manure, in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, Rebecca Martin Nagy, ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1998), 182, illus. (color).
Millet/Van Gogh (exhibition catalogue) (Paris: Museé d'Orsay, 1998), cat. no. 4, illus. (color).
Le Dignité des humbles: Jean-François Millet et le naturalisme in Europe (exhibition catalogue) (Tokyo: Bunkamura Museum of Art, 2003), cat. no. 12, illus. (color).
M. Therese Southgate, M.D., "The Cover," JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association 289, no. 5 (March 19, 2003), discussed 523, illus. (color) 515, 523, and cover.
Joseph P. Covington, entry for Peasant Spreading Manure (Paysan répandant du fumier), in North Carolina Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections, rev. ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2010), 370, illus. (color) 371.
Timothy Standring and Louis van Tiborgh, eds., Becoming Van Gogh (exhibition catalogue) (Denver: Denver Art Museum, 2012), cat. no. 18, illus. (color).
Chantal Georgel, Millet (Paris: Citadelles & Mazenod, 2014), illus. (color) 40, fig. 24; also, large detail (color), 26–27.
Exhibition HistoryColorado Springs, CO, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, "21 Great Paintings," July 20-August 30, 1947, cat. no. 15, illus. (courtesy of the Knoedler Galleries).
Decatur, IL, Decatur Art Center, April 11–May 9, 1948, no. 3.
Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Robert F. Phifer Collection," March 31-May 13, 1973, 54, illus. (b-w) 55.
Paris, Grand Palais du Louvre, "Jean-François Millet," October 17, 1975- January 5, 1976; London, Hayward Gallery, January 20-March 7, 1976, cat. no. 60, illus.
Atlanta, GA, The High Museum of Art, "19th Century French Salon Paintings from Southern Collections," January 21-March 13, 1983; Norfolk, VA, The Chrysler Museum, April 4-May 15, 1983; Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, June 25-August 21, 1983; Sarasota, FL, The Ringling Museum of Art, September 15-October 23, 1983, cat. no. 54. illus.
Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum Vincent van Gogh, "Van Gogh and Millet," December 9, 1989-February 26, 1989, cat. no. 5, illus.
Paris, Musée d'Orsay, "Millet/Van Gogh," September 14, 1998-January 5, 1999, cat. no. 4, illus. (color).
Tokyo, Bunkamura Museum of Art, "The Dignity of Humble People: Jean François-Millet and Naturalism in Europe," April 10-July 13, 2003; Fukuoka, Fukuoka City Art Museum, July 24-September 26, 2003, cat. no. 12, illus. (color).
Denver, CO, Denver Art Museum, “Becoming Van Gogh,” October 21, 2012– January 21, 2013, cat. no. 18, illus. (color).
Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present. Object Rights Statement
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