Two Men Turning Over the Soil (Les Bêcheurs)

Two Men Turning Over the Soil (Les Bêcheurs)

c. 1850-51
Artist
Jean-François Millet, French, 1814-1875
Born: France
Object
drawing
Medium
Black conté crayon on cream laid paper darkened to pale brown, affixed to cardboard
Accession Number
2019.599
Credit Line
The Esmond Bradley Martin Collection
Jean-François Millet (French). Two Men Turning Over the Soil (Les Bêcheurs). c. 1850-51. Black conté crayon on cream laid paper darkened to pale brown, affixed to cardboard. The Esmond Bradley Martin Collection. 2019.599.
Dimensions
height: 9.125 in, 23.1775 cm; width: 11.75 in, 29.8450 cm; height: 19.5 in, 49.5300 cm; width: 22.25 in, 56.5150 cm; frame height: 19.75 in, 50.1650 cm; frame width: 22 in, 55.8800 cm; frame depth: 1.5 in, 3.8100 cm
Inscription
BR - Illegible but possibly artist initials
Department
European and American Art Before 1900
Collection
European Painting and Sculpture before 1900
Known Provenance
Studio of the artist; Millet studio sale, (Hôtel Drouot), Paris, May 10–11, 1875, lot 182 [1] ; Quincy Adams Shaw (1825–1908), Boston; by descent to his son, Quincy Adams Shaw, Jr. (1869–1960), Pride’s Crossing, Massachusetts; (Castano Gallery), Boston; Steven Juvelis, 1960; (Wildenstein), New York, 1964; Esmond Bradley Martin [1941–2018], 1976; Gifted to the Denver Art Museum, 2019. [1] stamped at lower right with studio sale mark, J.F.M.
Exhibition History
  • Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, exhibited on special loan, 1919–20
  • "J.-F. Millet (1814–1875)"—Wildenstein, London, 1969, exh. cat., no. 24, repr.
  • "Jean-François Millet et ses amis: Peintres de Barbizon"—Seibu Department Store, Tokyo, and elsewhere, 1970, exh. cat., no. 24, repr.
  • "J.-F. Millet, 1814–1875"—Galeria Wildenstein, Buenos Aires, 1971, exh. cat., no. 20, repr.
  • "A Selection of Paintings and Drawings by Jean-François Millet (1814–1875) from the Gallery’s Collection"—Wildenstein, New York, 1976, no. 19
  • "French and Italian Master Drawings from the Collection of Esmond Bradley Martin, Jr."—Denver Art Museum, 1982, exh. cat. by Phyllis Hattis, no. 12, pp. 5, 7, 32–33
  • "Changing Landscapes: Themes in 19th-Century French and American Painting"—Victoria H. Myhren Gallery, University of Denver, 2011, exh. cat., pp. 21, 24, 58, repr.
  • "Passport to Paris"—Denver Art Museum, 10/27/2013–02/09/2014