Jean-François Millet, Portrait of Narcisse Virgile Diaz de la Peña
Severance Fund, 2003.41 · The Cleveland Museum of Art, Open Access (CC0)View original →
Jean-François Millet

Portrait of Narcisse Virgile Diaz de la Peña

1848

Current Collection

Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Medium
black chalk with heightening in pale green-blue chalk
Dimensions
61.4 × 48.7 cm
Status
In Museum Collection
Collect24 Art ID
C24-216365

Jean-François Millet executed this boldly drawn life-sized portrait at an early point in his career when he had very little money and his paintings would not sell. Another artist had suggested he make drawings to trade for clothing, and this example belongs to a group of four chalk portraits of artist colleagues that Millet sold together for only twenty French francs (about three dollars). The sitter, Narcisse Virgile Diaz de la Peña, became known for his thickly painted, luminous and colorful landscapes. In this impressively large portrait of Diaz, Millet used the black chalk in a broad yet …

Provenance

Severance Fund, 2003.41

Registry history

  • 1848 — Recorded in the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art — drawings

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