The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 15, 2025

Black chalk on beige paper of a scene in a garden with a person on the left kneeling on one knee and holding their arms out to a standing baby on the right, who holds their arms out in return and is steadied by another adult bending down to balance them. Green pastel colors the shrubbery surrounding a fence in the background and blue and orange the clothing of the people.

First Steps

c. 1859–66
(French, 1814–1875)
France, 19th century
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.)
Gift of Mrs. Thomas H. Jones, Sr. 1962.407
Location: not on view

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.
  • after 1859 - 1875
    Emile Gavet [1830-1904], Paris
    1875
    (his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, June 11–12, 1875, no. 80, sold to "Del")
    1875-?
    "Del"
    ?-1962
    (Rosenberg & Stiebel, Inc., New York)
    1962
    Mrs. Thomas H. Jones Sr. [Katharine Brooks Jones, d. 1979], Cleveland, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1962-
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 Herbert in Paris/London 1975-76 includes in the provenance a work that sold at Drouot, Paris, 30 April 1888, as no. 5, which is incorrect, since this lot is a painting; no other works in the sale correspond to the Cleveland drawing.
  • Talbot, William S. "Jean-François Millet: Return from the Fields." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 60, no. 9 (1973): 259-66. Mentioned: p. 265; Reproduced: p. 264 www.jstor.org
    Millet, Van Gogh. Exh. Cat. Paris: Musée d'Orsay, 1998. Mentioned: p. 158 n. 33-34
    Hitchcock, Ripley. "Millet and the Children." St. Nicholas 14, no. 3 (January 1887): 166-178. Mentioned: p. 168
    Soullié, Louis. Peintures, aquarelles, pastels, dessins de Jean-François Millet relevés dans les catalogues de ventes de 1849 à 1900. Paris: Librairie spéciale des catalogues de ventes annotés, 1900. Mentioned: p. 121
    Cartwright, Julia. Jean François Millet: His Life and Letters. New York: Macmillan, 1902. Mentioned: p. 377
    Gensel, Walther. Millet und Rousseau. Bielefelder: Velhagen & Klasing, 1902. Reproduced: p. 57
    Rolland, Romain. Millet. London: Duckworth, 1902. Mentioned: p. X; Reproduced: p. 75
    Holme, Charles, ed. Corot and Millet. New York: International Studio, 1903. Reproduced: plate M17
    Bénédite, Léonce. Les dessins de J.F. Millet. Paris: Hachette, 1906. Mentioned: p. 24
    Mireur, H. Dictionnaire des ventes d'art faites en France et à l'etranger pendant les XVIIIe & XIXe siècles. Paris: Vincenti, 1911. Mentioned: vol. 5, p. 206
    Diez, E. Jean François Millet. Bielefelder: Velhagen & Klasing, 1912. Reproduced: p. 29
    Veth, Jan. "Une même composition chez Joseph Israëls et chez Millet." L'Art flamand & hollandais 9, no. 17 (1912): 53-60. Mentioned: pp. 55, 57-60; Reproduced: between pp. 58
    Cox, Kenyon. Artist and Public. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1914. Mentioned: pp. 65-66; Reproduced: plate 8
    Moreau-Nélaton, Étienne. Millet raconté par lui-même. Paris: Henri Laurens, 1921. Mentioned: vol. 2, pp. 38, 59, 192; Reproduced: between pp. 40 and 41; vol. 3, p. 127
    Gsell, Paul. Millet. Paris: Rieder, 1928. Mentioned: p. 55
    Drawings by Jean-François Millet. Exh. Cat. Cardiff: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1956. Mentioned: p. 35, under no. 50a
    Bouchot-Saupique, Jacqueline. Dessins de Jean-François Millet. Exh. Cat. Paris: Musée du Louvre, 1960. Mentioned: p. 22, under no. 36
    Some Paintings of the Barbizon School. Exh. Cat. London: Hazlitt Gallery, 1960. Mentioned: p. 13, under no. 27
    Chase, Alice Elizabeth. Famous Paintings. New York: Platt & Munk, 1962. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 11
    Bacou, Roseline. Millet: One Hundred Drawings. New York: Harper & Row, 1975. Mentioned: p. 206, under no. 43
    Herbert, Robert L., Roseline Bacou, and Michel Laclotte. Jean-François Millet. Exh. Cat. Paris: Grand Palais, 1975. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 97
    Fermigier, André. Jean-François Millet. Geneva: Skira, 1977. Mentioned: pp. 54, 62-63, 143; Reproduced: p. 63
    Catalogue of Important Nineteenth Century European Drawings and Watercolours. London: Sotheby's, 1980. Mentioned: under no. 75A
    Johnson, Mark M. Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1980. Mentioned: pp. 62-64; Reproduced: p. 64
    Les plus belles pages de la poésie française. Paris: Sélection du Reader's Digest, 1982. Reproduced: pp. 380-381
    Meixner, Laura L. An International Episode: Millet, Monet and their North American Counterparts. Exh. Cat. Memphis: Dixon Gallery and Gardens, 1982. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 85
    Murphy, Alexandra R. Jean-François Millet. Exh. Cat. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1984. Mentioned: p. 115
    Meixner, Laura L. "Will Hicok Low (1853-1932): His Early Career and Barbizon Experience." American Art Journal 17, no. 4 (Autumn 1985): 51-70. Mentioned: p. 59; Reproduced: p. 60
    Tilborgh, Louis van, Sjraar van Heugten, and Philip Conisbee. Van Gogh & Millet. Exh. Cat. Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum, 1988. Mentioned: p. 111, under no. 39
    Lepoittevin, Lucien. Jean-François Millet, images et symboles. Cherbourg: Isoète, 1990. Mentioned: p. 41
    Fermigier, André. Millet. Geneva: Skira, 1991. Mentioned: p. 58, 137; Reproduced: p. 63
    19th Century Continental Pictures, Watercolours and Drawings. London: Christie's, 1992. Mentioned: 25, under no. 17
    Kimura, Shigenobu. Urban Utopia. Tokyo: Kodansha, 1993. Mentioned: pp. 64, 146; Reproduced: p. 64
    19th Century European Paintings, Drawings, Watercolors and Sculpture. New York: Christie's, 1994. Mentioned: p. 70, under no. 91
    Guégan, Stéphane. Millet peintre paysan. Paris: Flammarion, 1998. Mentioned: p. 78; Reproduced: p. 79
    Murphy, Alexandra R., Richard Rand, Brian T. Allen, et al. Jean-François Millet: Drawn into the Light. Exh. Cat. Williamstown, MA: Clark Art Institute, 1999. Mentioned: p. 89, under no. 54
    DeGrazia, Diane, and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000. Mentioned: pp. 134-135, pp. 290-291, no. 53; Reproduced: p. 135
    Manoeuvre, Laurent. Jean-François Millet, pastels et dessins. Paris: Bibliothèque de l'Image, 2002. Reproduced: p. 19
    Lemonedes, Heather. "Pure Color: A new exhibition celebrates luminous pastels.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 56, no. 6 (November/December 2016): 8-9. Reproduced: p. 8; Mentioned: p. 9. archive.org
    Milesi, Silvana. Il padre nell'arte e nel tempo. Bergamo : Corponove, 2020, 23. Reproduced and mentioned: p. 23
    Salsbury, Britany. “Nineteenth-Century French Drawings: Acquiring the now-on-view collection.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 63, no. 1 (2023): 8-9. Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 8. archive.org
  • Nineteenth-Century French Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 20-April 30, 2023).
    Pure Color: Pastels from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 19, 2016-March 19, 2017).
    Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000).
    French Drawings from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 13, 1994-March 12, 1995).
    Directions in Drawing II: The Human Figure. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 5, 1991-January 12, 1992).
    The Graphic Art of the Barbizon School. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 17-May 17, 1987).
    Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 19-March 23, 1980).
    Seventeenth-, Eighteenth-, and Early Nineteenth-Century Genre and French Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 31-August 19, 1979).
    Jean-François Millet. Hayward Gallery, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (January 20-March 7, 1976); Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, 75008 Paris, France (organizer) (October 17-January 5, 1976).
    French Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1965-February 16, 1966).
    Drawings: France, Italy, Netherlands. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 1-March 24, 1965).
    Year in Review (1963). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 27, 1963-January 5, 1964).
  • {{cite web|title=First Steps|url=false|author=Jean-François Millet|year=c. 1859–66|access-date=15 March 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1962.407