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First Steps

c. 1859–66

Jean-François Millet

(French, 1814–1875)
Culture
France, 19th century
Medium
black chalk and pastel on beige laid paper
Support
Beige(1) laid paper, perimeter mounted to beige(1) wove paper
Measurements
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.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Thomas H. Jones, Sr. 1962.407
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Did You Know?

At the time this drawing was made, many critics disparaged Millet's depictions of peasants as politically radical.

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.
A horizontally oriented black chalk on beige paper drawing depicts a scene in a garden. On the left, a man wearing a hat kneels on one knee and holds his arms out to a standing toddler on the right, wearing a white cap, who holds their arms out in return and is steadied by a woman, wearing an orange cap, bending down to balance them. Green pastel colors the shrubbery surrounding a fence in the background.

First Steps

c. 1859–66

Jean-François Millet

(French, 1814–1875)
France, 19th century

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