Return from the Fields (c. 1846–47): Art, History and Details

Return from the Fields (c. 1846–47) 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:

This idealized vision of noble peasant life was painted during a period of intense industrialization in France, accompanied by economic depression and the abandonment of farms. Nostalgic peasant scenes were especially popular in the 1840s, a stark contrast to the disillusionment and tension that would violently surface in the Revolution of 1848. The vague shapes and faces of the family seen here make them symbols of the land, rather than individuals.

Object facts

• Title: Return from the Fields
• Date: c. 1846–47
• Creator attribution: Jean-François Millet (French, 1814–1875)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on fabric
• Dimensions: Framed: 68 x 60 x 10 cm (26 3/4 x 23 5/8 x 3 15/16 in.); Unframed: 46.2 x 37.8 cm (18 3/16 x 14 7/8 in.)
• Collection: Mod Euro - Painting 1800-1960
• Department: Modern European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1972.19

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1972.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 60, no. 3 (March 1973): 63–115.
• Talbot, William S. “Jean-François Millet: Return from the Fields.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 60, no. 9 (November 1973): 258–266.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.

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.