Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00011385Liberty
About the Artwork
Liberty relates to Jean-François Millet's entrance into the 1848 competition for an official painted figure representing the second French Republic. Millet did not win the competition and his painted Republic no longer exists, but this representation of a related concept—liberty—was inspired by his contest participation. He also drew allegories of the other two fundamental concepts in French Republicanism: equality and fraternity.
Provenance
?-1908: Quincy Adams Shaw [1825-1908], Boston, by descent within family 1908-1939: Family of Quincy Adams Shaw, Boston 1939: (Parke-Bernet, New York, Nov. 24, 1939, no. 12) ?-1976: Beatrice H. Shore, New York, sold to Shepherd Gallery, New York 1976-: (Shepherd Gallery, New York, sold to Muriel Butkin, Shaker Heights, OH) 1976-2008: Muriel Butkin [1916-2008], Shaker Heights, OH, by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH 2008-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26-October 28, 2001); Dahesh Museum of Art (February 19-May 18, 2002).
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
- 1848–49
- Medium
- black chalk and pastel
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 47.2 x 31.7 cm (18 9/16 x 12 1/2 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Bequest of Muriel Butkin
- Accession no.
- 2008.395
More by Jean François Millet in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00011385
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