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Drawing of a harvested field with a plow and harrow left behind and flock of black birds in the distance.

A hand plow sits forgotten in a field left of center where crops have been cut down in horizontal lines from foreground into the distance. A few crows sit on top of the plow and in the field around it. A grid-shaped harrow rests flat in the lower right corner. The field is drawn in ochers, browns, greys, with strokes of white suggesting a dusting of snow. A flock of blackbirds are seen in the distant sky, some landing towards the left beyond the plow. There’s a suggestion of a mountain drawn in white strokes in the distance.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1951.143
People
Jean-François Millet, French (Gruchy 1814 - 1875 Barbizon)
Title
Winter (The Plain of Chailly)
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
c. 1864
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/297078

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Pastel on tan paper
Dimensions
38.1 × 45.1 cm (15 × 17 3/4 in.)
frame: 54.6 × 61 cm (21 1/2 × 24 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: l.r.: J.F. Millet

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Edward W. Forbes, Cambridge, MA, by 1927, gift; to Fogg Art Museum, 1951

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Edward W. Forbes
Accession Year
1951
Object Number
1951.143
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Agnes Mongan and Paul J. Sachs, Drawings in the Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, 1940), no. 714, fig. 383
  • Agnes Mongan, "The Fogg Art Museum's Collection of Drawings", Harvard Library Bulletin, Harvard University (Cambridge, 1958), vol. 3, no. 2, March, pp. 5-9, p. 202, repr. as pl. V
  • Eric M. Rosenberg and Miriam Stewart, The Harvest of 1830: The Barbizon Legacy, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1990), p. 22
  • Colleen Walsh, "A Different Side of Van Gogh", The Harvard Gazette (April 2, 2018), https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/04/van-goghs-snow-covered-field-visits-harvard/, accessed April 3, 2018
  • "Friendly Exchanges - Van Gogh and More", Index Magazine ([e-journal], May 30, 2018), https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/article/friendly-exchanges-van-gogh-and-more, accessed August 15, 2018

Exhibition History

  • The Age of Romanticism, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Cambridge, 03/15/1986 - 05/18/1986
  • The Harvest of 1830: the Barbizon Legacy, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 08/25/1990 - 10/21/1990
  • 32Q: 2700 Impressionism, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 03/22/2018 - 07/11/2018

Verification Level

This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu