Peasant Returning from the Manure Heap (1855–56): Art, History and Details

Peasant Returning from the Manure Heap (1855–56) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Jean-François Millet (French, 1814–1875).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Millet moved from Paris to the nearby village of Barbizon in 1849 in search of rustic subject matter. The group of painters working in the countryside surrounding the Forest of Fontainebleau frequently painted out-of-doors in order to create fresh and accurate views of nature. While most of the Barbizon artists focused primarily on landscape, Millet also represented peasants. His works celebrate the nobility and dignity of people living close to the soil, symbols of the stability and continuity lacking in modern life

Object facts

• Title: Peasant Returning from the Manure Heap
• Date: 1855–56
• Creator attribution: Jean-François Millet (French, 1814–1875)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Print
• Technique: etching
• Dimensions: Plate: 16.2 x 13.2 cm (6 3/8 x 5 3/16 in.)
• Collection: PR - Etching
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1921.991

Collection credit

Gift of Ralph King

Further reading listed by the museum

• Talbot, William S. “Jean-François Millet: Return from the Fields.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 60, no. 9 (November 1973): 259–266.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.