The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of November 9, 2025

Vertically oriented, black crayon sketch depicting a woman, her back to us and head turned to her left so that we see her face in profile. She wears a long-sleeve dress cinched at the waist with her hair pulled back in a bun. Her left hand holds a stick horizontally. The darkest shading appears on her left sleeve and hair, fine diagonal strokes blending into her shoulder and face, respectively. Written lower right is "C.P."

The Cowherdess, Eragny

1886

Camille Pissarro

(French, 1830–1903)
France, 19th century
crayon
Sheet: 43.6 x 29.1 cm (17 3/16 x 11 7/16 in.)
Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection 1947.2609
Location: Not on view

Description

This drawing of a peasant girl seen from the back with her bodice cinched at the waist was a study for a figure who appeared in an oil painting, Vachère à Eragny, 1886, and later in a watercolor of a fan painted in 1890. In a letter to his son, Pissarro mentioned being particularly pleased with the figure.
  • estate of the artist (Lugt Suppl. 613a, lower right, in black ink). Lucien Pissarro, London (according to department card and Shoolman and Slatkin 1950, p. 170)
  • Francis, Henry. "A Black Crayon Drawing by Camille Pissarro." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 35, no. 6 (June 1948): 103-104. Reproduced: front cover; Mentioned: p. 103 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 603 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 174 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 174 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 215 archive.org
  • Bloomington, Indiana University Fine Arts Museum, Nineteenth Century French Drawings (cat.: The Academic Tradition) (June 19-Aug. 1968), no. 78, illus.
    Monet to Dalí: Modern Masters from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 21, 2007-January 13, 2008).
    French Drawings from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 13, 1994-March 12, 1995).
    CMA, Treasures on Paper (May 10-July 24, 1988).
    The Graphic Art of the Barbizon School. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 17-May 17, 1987).
    National Schools of Style. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 14-September 18, 1983).
    CMA, National Schools of Style (June 14-Sep. 18, 1983).
    The Impressionist Aesthetic. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 10-October 31, 1982).
    CMA, Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism (1980), pp. 35, 38-9, illus.
    CMA, 17th and 18th Century Genre and French Drawings (May 31-Aug. 19, 1979).
    CMA, "Gallery J--Drawings" (July 29, 1975-Feb. 1976?) (is among a list of drawings in Gallery J, this list being found at the end of a list of prints that were in other galleries from July 29, 1975-Feb. 1976 for a little show called "The Vocabulary of Prints"--see exhs. file).
    CMA, "Gallery List of Drawings" (Dec. 1, 1970-Jan. 31, 1971; re-opened Mar. 16, 1971).
    CMA, 19th and 20th Century Drawings (Feb. 19-Mar. 24, 1965).
    Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Museum of Art, A Generation of Draughtsmen (or, French Drawings of the 1880s?) (Apr. 22 (or 25?)-May 29, 1962).
    Nineteenth Century Master Drawings. Newark Museum (March 16 - April 30, 1961).
    CMA, "Drawings from the Collection" ("rearranged Jan. 21, 1953").
  • {{cite web|title=The Cowherdess, Eragny|url=false|author=Camille Pissarro|year=1886|access-date=09 November 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1947.2609