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Source Description
In the 1860s Jean-François Millet began to add pastel to his black chalk drawings of peasants and rural life, with the hope that the addition of color would make his monochromatic drawings more marketable. Between 1865 and 1869, he worked almost exclusively in pastel, producing more than 100 works. The taste for “enhanced” or “pastelled drawings,” as Millet described them, grew among collectors and artists, and inspired a revival of the medium in the 1870s and 1880s. Here, in a fenced-in garden behind a house, parents encourage their child to walk for the first time. Delicate passages of blue, green, yellow, and red enliven the composition.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
138515
label
First Steps
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
138515
contentType
drawing
title
First Steps
description
In the 1860s Jean-François Millet began to add pastel to his black chalk drawings of peasants and rural life, with the hope that the addition of color would make his monochromatic drawings more marketable. Between 1865 and 1869, he worked almost exclusively in pastel, producing more than 100 works. The taste for “enhanced” or “pastelled drawings,” as Millet described them, grew among collectors and artists, and inspired a revival of the medium in the 1870s and 1880s. Here, in a fenced-in garden behind a house, parents encourage their child to walk for the first time. Delicate passages of blue, green, yellow, and red enliven the composition.
date
c. 1859–66
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q80034442
creators
1667
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 29.5 x 45.9 cm (11 5/8 x 18 1/16 in.); Secondary Support: 36 x 50.9 cm (14 3/16 x 20 1/16 in.)
cul
France, 19th century
accession
1962.407
Source extras
tec
black chalk and pastel on beige laid paper
tombstone
First Steps, c. 1859–66. Jean-François Millet (French, 1814–1875). Black chalk and pastel on beige laid paper; sheet: 29.5 x 45.9 cm (11 5/8 x 18 1/16 in.); secondary support: 36 x 50.9 cm (14 3/16 x 20 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Thomas H. Jones, Sr., 1962.407
supportMaterials
description
beige(1) laid paper, perimeter mounted to beige(1) wove paper
collection
DR - French
inscriptions
inscription
signed, lower right, in black chalk: J. F. Millet
didYouKnow
At the time this drawing was made, many critics disparaged Millet's depictions of peasants as politically radical.
citations
citation
Talbot, William S. "Jean-François Millet: Return from the Fields." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 60, no. 9 (1973): 259-66.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 265; Reproduced: p. 264
citation
<em>Millet, Van Gogh</em>. Exh. Cat. Paris: Musée d'Orsay, 1998.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 158 n. 33-34
citation
Hitchcock, Ripley. "Millet and the Children." <em>St. Nicholas </em>14, no. 3 (January 1887): 166-178.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 168
citation
Soullié, Louis. <em>Peintures, aquarelles, pastels, dessins de Jean-François Millet relevés dans les catalogues de ventes de 1849 à 1900</em>. Paris: Librairie spéciale des catalogues de ventes annotés, 1900.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 121
citation
Cartwright, Julia. <em>Jean François Millet: His Life and Letters</em>. New York: Macmillan, 1902.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 377
citation
Gensel, Walther. <em>Millet und Rousseau</em>. Bielefelder: Velhagen & Klasing, 1902.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 57
citation
Rolland, Romain. <em>Millet</em>. London: Duckworth, 1902.
page_number
Mentioned: p. X; Reproduced: p. 75
citation
Holme, Charles, ed. <em>Corot and Millet</em>. New York: International Studio, 1903.
page_number
Reproduced: plate M17
citation
Bénédite, Léonce. <em>Les dessins de J.F. Millet</em>. Paris: Hachette, 1906.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 24
citation
Mireur, H. <em>Dictionnaire des ventes d'art faites en France et à l'etranger pendant les XVIIIe & XIXe siècles</em>. Paris: Vincenti, 1911.
page_number
Mentioned: vol. 5, p. 206
citation
Diez, E. <em>Jean François Millet</em>. Bielefelder: Velhagen & Klasing, 1912.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 29
citation
Veth, Jan. "Une même composition chez Joseph Israëls et chez Millet." <em>L'Art flamand & hollandais </em>9, no. 17 (1912): 53-60.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 55, 57-60; Reproduced: between pp. 58
citation
Cox, Kenyon. <em>Artist and Public</em>. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1914.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 65-66; Reproduced: plate 8
citation
Moreau-Nélaton, Étienne. <em>Millet raconté par lui-même</em>. Paris: Henri Laurens, 1921.
page_number
Mentioned: vol. 2, pp. 38, 59, 192; Reproduced: between pp. 40 and 41; vol. 3, p. 127
citation
Gsell, Paul. <em>Millet</em>. Paris: Rieder, 1928.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 55
citation
<em>Drawings by Jean-François Millet</em>. Exh. Cat. Cardiff: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1956.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 35, under no. 50a
citation
Bouchot-Saupique, Jacqueline. <em>Dessins de Jean-François Millet</em>. Exh. Cat. Paris: Musée du Louvre, 1960.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 22, under no. 36
citation
<em>Some Paintings of the Barbizon School</em>. Exh. Cat. London: Hazlitt Gallery, 1960.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 13, under no. 27
citation
Chase, Alice Elizabeth. <em>Famous Paintings</em>. New York: Platt & Munk, 1962.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 11
citation
Bacou, Roseline. <em>Millet: One Hundred Drawings</em>. New York: Harper & Row, 1975.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 206, under no. 43
citation
Herbert, Robert L., Roseline Bacou, and Michel Laclotte. <em>Jean-François Millet</em>. Exh. Cat. Paris: Grand Palais, 1975.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: no. 97
citation
Fermigier, André. <em>Jean-François Millet</em>. Geneva: Skira, 1977.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 54, 62-63, 143; Reproduced: p. 63
citation
<em>Catalogue of Important Nineteenth Century European Drawings and Watercolours</em>. London: Sotheby's, 1980.
page_number
Mentioned: under no. 75A
citation
Johnson, Mark M. <em>Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism</em>. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1980.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 62-64; Reproduced: p. 64
citation
<em>Les plus belles pages de la poésie française</em>. Paris: Sélection du Reader's Digest, 1982.
page_number
Reproduced: pp. 380-381
citation
Meixner, Laura L. <em>An International Episode: Millet, Monet and their North American Counterparts</em>. Exh. Cat. Memphis: Dixon Gallery and Gardens, 1982.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 85
citation
Murphy, Alexandra R. <em>Jean-François Millet</em>. Exh. Cat. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1984.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 115
citation
Meixner, Laura L. "Will Hicok Low (1853-1932): His Early Career and Barbizon Experience." <em>American Art Journal</em> 17, no. 4 (Autumn 1985): 51-70.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 59; Reproduced: p. 60
citation
Tilborgh, Louis van, Sjraar van Heugten, and Philip Conisbee. <em>Van Gogh & Millet</em>. Exh. Cat. Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum, 1988.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 111, under no. 39
citation
Lepoittevin, Lucien. <em>Jean-François Millet, images et symboles</em>. Cherbourg: Isoète, 1990.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 41
citation
Fermigier, André. <em>Millet</em>. Geneva: Skira, 1991.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 58, 137; Reproduced: p. 63
citation
<em>19th Century Continental Pictures, Watercolours and Drawings</em>. London: Christie's, 1992.
page_number
Mentioned: 25, under no. 17
citation
Kimura, Shigenobu. <em>Urban Utopia</em>. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1993.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 64, 146; Reproduced: p. 64
citation
<em>19th Century European Paintings, Drawings, Watercolors and Sculpture</em>. New York: Christie's, 1994.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 70, under no. 91
citation
Guégan, Stéphane. <em>Millet peintre paysan</em>. Paris: Flammarion, 1998.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 78; Reproduced: p. 79
citation
Murphy, Alexandra R., Richard Rand, Brian T. Allen, et al. <em>Jean-François Millet: Drawn into the Light</em>. Exh. Cat. Williamstown, MA: Clark Art Institute, 1999.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 89, under no. 54
citation
DeGrazia, Diane, and Carter E. Foster. <em>Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 134-135, pp. 290-291, no. 53; Reproduced: p. 135
citation
Manoeuvre, Laurent. <em>Jean-François Millet, pastels et dessins</em>. Paris: Bibliothèque de l'Image, 2002.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 19
citation
Lemonedes, Heather. "Pure Color: A new exhibition celebrates luminous pastels.” <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine</em> 56, no. 6 (November/December 2016): 8-9.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 8; Mentioned: p. 9
citation
Milesi, Silvana. Il padre nell'arte e nel tempo. Bergamo : Corponove, 2020, 23.
page_number
Reproduced and mentioned: p. 23
citation
Salsbury, Britany. “Nineteenth-Century French Drawings: Acquiring the now-on-view collection.” <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine </em>63, no. 1 (2023): 8-9.
page_number
Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 8
citation
Salsbury, Britany. <em>Nineteenth-Century French Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Lewes, UK, Cleveland, Ohio: GILES; Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 100-101, no. 11
creditline
Gift of Mrs. Thomas H. Jones, Sr.
updatedAt
2026-05-29 07:05:53.770000
sourceId
138515
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - French
med
black chalk and pastel on beige laid paper
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
e04e73892cb89ce9