Jean-François Millet

J. Staats Forbes, London, before 1906
Fritz Meyer, Zurich (and sold: Frederick Muller et Cie., Amsterdam, July 13, 1926, no. 23)
Sale: Sotheby’s, London, June 21, 1988, lot 35, illustrated

Léonce Bénédite, The Drawings of Jean François Millet, London and Philadelphia, 1906, pl. 41

Canvas laid down on paper which has taped edges; some buckling at spots, and two spots of blanching to sheet at left and lower right edge as seen in the catalogue image.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Where Laveuses à la fontaine  and Le Jardinage are finished works, signed and destined for the market, Le Retour de la bergère and Les deux bêcheurs (lot 82) are working drawings, stages in the production of a further work and kept in the artist’s studio.  (Both drawings are stamped with variations of Millet’s signature that were applied to works left after his death.) Large, as Millet’s working drawings go, and boldly drawn, both works have a compelling presence far beyond their original utilitarian purpose.  

Le Retour de la bergère is mounted now as a traditional drawing, but the faintly rosy hue of the support is an important clue to the work’s origin as the original lay-in for a painting on canvas. (Millet was a generation ahead of most French painters in his preference for colored grounds for his paintings of the 1860s and 1870s.) Expanding a composition he had created in a watercolor drawing of the late 1850’s, Le Retour de la bergère  presents a solitary shepherdess returning her flock to the village at twilight.   Her watchful dog, surveying the troop from a low rise, is posed rump-up, in a motif that Millet must certainly have enjoyed, as he incorporated it into nearly a dozen works. Why Le Retour de la bergère was left unfinished is unclear (there is a just slightly larger painting of the same subject now in Japan) but Millet’s health was bad during the 1870s and he may simply have set it aside for a better day.