Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009992Monsieur Martin
About the Artwork
Millet and the other members of the Realist movement were renowned for not only producing realistic images, but for typically injecting their pictures with political, spiritual, or social messages. Sensitive to the human psyche and the rise of the bourgeoisie, Millet used a simple, almost monochromatic background to focus attention on the face of Monsieur Martin, a middle-class veterinarian and meat inspector. Indeed, Martin's beard, hair style, clothing, even his common French name, and the fact that he could afford portraits of himself and his wife (now lost) convey that he belonged to the prosperous middle class. This small portrait shows Millet's extraordinary skill as a painter. He depicted the highlights on Martin's face by adding patches of flat, unblended color, and some of the brushstrokes suggest the loose, quick movement of the artist's hands over the canvas.
Inscriptions
Signed lower left: millet
Provenance
Paris sale, Galerie Georges Petit, 22 May 1919 (lot 28, repr.), Portrait de M Martin, peint entre 1844 et 1848 (with a pendant portrait). Hamel, Lisieux. Etard, Lisieux. F. Cottin, Lisieux, by 1964. New York sale, Sotheby Parke-Bernet, 28 April 1977 (lot 156, repr.). Shepherd Gallery, New York. Bought May 1977 by Mr. and Mrs. Noah L. Butkin, Cleveland. Bequeathed to the CMA in 1980.
Exhibition history
Year in Review: 1980. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 24-July 19, 1981).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Jean-François Millet (French, 1814–1875)
- Date
- 1840
- Medium
- oil on fabric
- Dimensions
- Framed: 68 x 59.7 x 10.8 cm (26 3/4 x 23 1/2 x 4 1/4 in.); Unframed: 46 x 38 cm (18 1/8 x 14 15/16 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- Modern European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Bequest of Noah L. Butkin
- Accession no.
- 1980.270
More by Jean François Millet in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00009992
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