Sketches, Fragment: Head of a Woman Wearing a Kerchief
after 1863
Medium
Woodcut fragment from a partially printed block on tan wove paper with separate matting and original backing with inscription in dark brown ink on white wove lined card
Dimensions
Image: 2.7 × 4.5 cm (1 1/8 × 1 13/16 in.); Sheet: 5 × 5.8 cm (2 × 2 5/16 in.)
Classification
woodcut
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
49926
Art Historical Context
Jean-François Millet, a pioneering French Realist painter associated with the Barbizon School masterfully captured the dignity of rural peasant life in his works. Created after 1863, *Sketches, Fragment: Head of Woman Wearing a Kerchief exemplifies his skill in intimate portraiture. This tiny woodcut fragment—measuring just 2.7 × 4.5 cm—depicts a woman's head framed by a traditional kerchief, evoking quiet strength of everyday folk from 19th-century France. Printed from a partially inked block on tan wove paper, the piece retains its original backing with an inscription in dark brown ink on l...