Calling the Cows Home

Jean-François Millet

ca. 1872 · Oil on wood · European Paintings

Millet mentioned this painting in a letter of August 1872 to his friend and biographer, Alfred Sensier: "I've groaned more than I've worked, since I've done hardly anything but a sketch. You know the subject, a cowherd sounding his horn to collect his cattle at the end of the day." Millet had treated this subject in a charcoal drawing of 1857–58 and a pastel of 1866.

Artist

Jean-François Millet

Date

ca. 1872

Medium

Oil on wood

Department

European Paintings

Credit line

Gift of Mrs. Arthur Whitney, 1950