The Quarriers

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The Quarriers

Artist Jean-Francois Millet French, 1814-1875

Place of OriginFrance

Date1846-1847

DimensionsPainting: 29 × 23 1/2 in. (73.7 × 59.7 cm)
Frame: 40 × 35 × 5 1/2 in. (101.6 × 88.9 × 14 cm)

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LineGift of Arthur J. Secor

Object number

1922.45

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 33

Collections

Paintings

Published References

Wheelwright, E., "Personal Recollections of Jean-Francois Millet," Atlantic Monthly, XXXVIII, 1876, p. 263.

Sensier, A., La vie et l'oeuvre de Jean-Francois Millet, Paris, 1881, p. 104.

Soullie, L., Les grands peintres aux ventes publiques: Jean-Francois Millet, Paris, 1900, p. 43.

Toledo Museum News, no. 41, April 1922, repr.

Brandt, P., Schaffende Arbeit und bildende Kunst, Leipzig, 1928, p. 229.

Toledo Museum News, no. 70, March 1935, repr.

Art Digest, IX, May 1, 1935, p. 6, repr.

Godwin, Blake-More, European Paintings in the Toledo Museum, 1939, p. 176, repr. p. 177.

Toledo Museum News, no. 95 A, September 1941, repr.

Cheney, Sheldon, The Story of Modern Art, New York, 1941, p. 95, repr.

French Painting from David to Courbet, Detroit Institute of Arts, 1950, no. 107, repr. on cover.

The Romantic Movement, London, Tate Gallery, 1959, no. 253, pl. 33.

Canaday, J., Mainstreams of Modern Art, New York, 1959, p. 123, repr.

Wittmann, Otto, "L'Art français au Musee de Toledo," Connaissance, no. 125, July 1962, Paris, pp. 40-47, appendix, p. 111, repr. p. 45.

Mastai, M-L. D'Otrange, "The Connoisseur in America, 'Barbizon Revisited,'" Connoisseur, vol. 152, no. 613, March 1963, p. 207.

De Forges, Marie-Thérèse, Barbizon, Paris, Les Editions du Temps, 1963, p. 37, repr.

Constable, W. G., "'The Romantic Era' Exhibition," The Connoisseur, vol. 158, no. 638, April 1965, p. 257.

Brion, M., Art of the Romantic Era, London, New York, 1966, repr.

Sutton, Denys, "Nineteenth-Century Painting: Trends and Cross-Currents," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, Dec. 1967, p. 489, repr. (b&w) fig. 8.

Huyghe, R., Sens et destin de l'art, de l'art gothique au XXe siecle, Paris, 1967, II, p. 219.

Bouret, J., L'ecole de Barbizon et le paysage francais au XIXe siecle, Neuchatel, 1972, p. 159, repr. p. 158.

Clark, K., The Romantic Rebellion, London, 1973, p. 290, fig. 220.

Clark, T. J., The Absolute Bourgeois, Artists and Politics in France, 1848-1851, London, 1973, pp. 74, 78, repr.

Lindsay, K., "Millet's Lost Winnower Rediscovered," Burlington Magazine, CXVI, May 1974, p. 270, fig. 7.

A Guide to the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, 1976, repr.

The Toledo Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collections, Toledo, 1976, repr. p. 83.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Painting, Toledo, 1976, p. 112, pl. 222.

Fermigier, Andre, Jean-Francois Millet, Geneva, 1977, p. 30, repr. p. 31, Geneva, 1991, p. 33, repr. (col.).

Courbet und Deutschland, Hamburg, Kunsthalle and Frankfurt-am-Main, Kunstinstitut und Stadlische Galerie, 1978-1979, p. 566, repr. no. 17, p. 569.

Canaday, John, Mainstreams of Modern Art, 2nd. ed., New York, 1981, p. 166, repr.

O'Brien, Maureen C., In Support of Liberty, Southampton, N.Y., The Parrish Art Museum, 1986, no. 61, p. 170, pl. XXX (col.) p. 123.

Laughton, Bruce, The Drawings of Daumier and Millet, New Haven, 1991, p. 27, fig. 3.5, p. 28.

Adams, Steven, The Barbizon School and the Origins of Impressionism, London, 1994, p. 144, pl. 107, p. 156, (col.).

Daguerre de Hureaux, Alain, Le realisme au XIXe siecle, Paris, 1994, p. 35, fig. 41.

Goldin, Marco, La nascita dell'impressionismo, Conegliano, Linea d'ombra Libri, 2000, no. 70, p. 72, repr. p. 172, (col.).

Georgel, Chantal, Millet, Paris, Editions Citadelles & Mazenod, 2014, repr. (col.) p. 327, no. 315.

Bouret, Jean, L'ecole de Barbizon: et le paysage francais au XIX siecle, Lausanne, Switzerland, Ides et Calendes, 2016, p. 132, repr. (col.) p. 133.

Exhibition History

New York, National Academy of Design, Pedestal Fund Art Loan Exhibition, 1883, no. 36.

Buffalo, Albright Art Gallery, The Nineteenth Century: French Art in Retrospect, 1932, no. 5, repr.

Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum, The Development of Impressionism, 1940, no. 37, repr.

Toledo, The Toledo Museum of Art; Toronto, Art Gallery of Toronto, The Spirit of Modern France, An Essay on Painting in Society, 1745-1946, 1946-1947, no. 34.

Akron, Akron Art Institute, French Painting of the Nineteenth Century, 1947.

Detroit, Detroit Institute of Arts, French Painting from David to Courbet, 1950, no. 107.

West Palm Beach, Norton Gallery; Coral Gables, University of Miami, Lowe Gallery, French Painting: David to Cézanne, 1953, no. 8.

London, Tate Gallery, The Romantic Movement, 1959, no. 253.

San Francisco, California Palace or the Legion of the Honor, 1962.

Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Barbizon Revisited, 1963, no. 59.

Indianapolis, Herron Museum of Art, The Romantic Era, Birth and Flowering, 1750-1850, 1965, no. 47.

New York, Wildenstein, Romantics and Realists, 1966, no. 57.

Paris, Grand Palais, Jean Francois Millet, 1975, no. 37.

Cleveland, Cleveland Museum of Art; Brooklyn, Brooklyn Museum; St. Louis, St. Louis Art Museum; Glasgow, Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum, The Realist Tradition, 1980-1982, no. 32.

Southampton, N.Y., The Parrish Art Museum; New York, National Academy of Design, In Support of Liberty, 1986, no. 61.

Treviso, Casa dei Carraresi, La nascita dell'impressionismo, 2000-2001, no. 70.

Lille, Palais Beaux-Arts Lille, Jean-Francois Millet, October 15, 2017-January 15, 2018.

Label TextThe backbreaking labor of poor, itinerant workers excavating rocky ground for new railroads is the subject of this dynamic painting by Jean-François Millet. Two workers strain to dislodge a boulder with a physical effort that the viewer can almost feel. The sketchy brushwork eliminates unessential detail and adds to the sense of energy and tension. Unlike the beautiful, noble peasants of artist Jules Breton (look for his painting Shepherd’s Star), the faces of Millet’s workers are often hidden or only roughly defined, underscoring the hardship and anonymity of their lives. Born to a peasant family himself, Millet was often accused of revolutionary sympathies because of the social overtones of his images of agricultural workers and laborers. As Millet explained, though, “the peasant subjects suit my temperament best; for I must confess, even if you think me a socialist, that the human side of art is what touches me most.”