The Carder

Artist: Jean-François Millet, French, 1814–1875
Date: c.1854
Material: Crayon
made in: France, Europe
Classification: Drawings & watercolors
Collection: Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
Current Location: Not on view
Dimensions: image: 12 1/4 × 10 1/4 in. (31.1 × 26 cm)
sheet (irregular): 14 3/8 × 12 1/2 in. (36.5 × 31.8 cm)
framed: 23 1/2 × 21 1/4 × 2 in. (59.7 × 54 × 5.1 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William N. Eisendrath Jr.
Rights: Public Domain
Object Number: 1920:1981

NOTES

It was Jean-François Millet's practice to repeat a motif he liked in various media to give it fresh expression. This lovely drawing, an interior scene of a woman carding flax-combing and cleaning fibers before spinning-is rendered with a soft crayon. The woman, modeled after the artist's sister Emilie, is bathed in a gentle light as she works in front of an open window. The image expresses Millet's nostalgia for the simplicity of rural labor.

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