Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00011558The Sick Child
About the Artwork
Jean-François Millet’s paintings of French rural life, especially those of peasants and farmers in their working environment, redefined the imagery of everyday life in the nineteenth century. Large-scale paintings such as The Gleaners (1857) presented the poorest of laborers with a dignity and nobility informed by classical traditions in French painting. At the same time he was working on major paintings for public exhibitions, Millet was also making smaller-scale drawings. Since drawings were less expensive, there was a much larger market for this type of work, and Millet created finished sheets in both black crayon and pastel as he catered to this demand. The work shown here is the first version of a theme the artist drew again in pastel in a more finished version (now lost). This crayon drawing shows, on the other hand, Millet’s thinking process. We can see him working out the composition because several changes are visible, most notably in the bowl held by the father and the cat in the window. Though taken from everyday life, Millet’s tender treatment of this family group recalls the biblical subject of the Holy Family.
Inscriptions
by artist?, lower center, in black chalk: enfant mala[de] [partially erased] ; by artist?, lower center, in black chalk: 5 ; in graphite, lower center: [illegible: circled number?][written over the 5] ; lower center, in graphite: No 100
Provenance
Estate of the artist [stamp, lower right, in black ink, Lugt 1460; verso, lower left, in black ink, Lugt Suppl. 1816a]. CHECK MILLET CATALOG, CHECK 1894 CAT OF MILLET'S WIDOW
Exhibition history
Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 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
- 1858
- Medium
- black crayon; framing lines in black crayon
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 40.4 x 32.1 cm (15 7/8 x 12 5/8 in.); Image: 32.9 x 24.9 cm (12 15/16 x 9 13/16 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Paul J. Vignos Jr.
- Accession no.
- 1998.300
More by Jean François Millet in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00011558
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