Winter Evening
Jean-François Millet
(French, 1814–1875)
1867
Medium/TechniquePastel and black conté crayon on gray-brown wove paper
Dimensions43.8 x 54 cm (17 1/4 x 21 1/4 in.)
Credit LineGift of Quincy Adams Shaw through Quincy Adams Shaw, Jr., and Mrs. Marian Shaw Haughton
Accession number17.1520
On View
Not on viewClassificationsPastels
Collections
In this simple cottage interior, a man weaves a basket while a woman sews. A baby, drawn with just a few delicate lines, sleeps at center. Millet saw light as an ordering principle in art, and here a single candle forms a pyramid with the figures, illuminating their tranquil moment with its faint glow.
The subtle cross-hatching and subdued color palette of this work are reminiscent of an etching, like those of the Holy Family by Rembrandt, which may have influenced Millet.
ProvenanceCommissioned from the artist by Emile Gavet (b. 1830 - d. 1904), Paris; June 11-12, 1975, Gavet sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, lot 13, sold to Alexis-Eugene Détrimont (dealer), Paris, probably for Quincy Adams Shaw (b. 1825 - d. 1908), Boston; 1917, given to the MFA by Quincy Adams Shaw through Quincy A. Shaw, Jr. and Mrs. Marian Shaw Haughton to the MFA. (Accession Date: March 29, 1917)
