Millet2022

1. Study of a Nude Seen from Behind Nu de dos courbé vers la gauche

c. 1846-49 Graphite on paper 4 7 ⁄ 8 x 3 5 ⁄ 8 in. (12.4 x 9.5 cm) Stamped lower left: Lugt 3728

PROVENANCE Galerie Paul Prouté; Private collection.

In the years right after his 1846 arrival in Paris, Millet produced a group of approximately 75 works, 50 of which were drawings, that focused on the female nude. These sensual and erotically charged works most likely portray Millet’s second wife, the young Catherine Lemaire as the model. According to Alexandra Murphy, this drawing is a study for the painting Deux Baigneurs (Paris, Musée d’Orsay) which explores the pose of the figure standing in the water and being helped up the riverbank by her companion. This painting was dated by Robert Herbert to 1848 in the 1975-76 Millet retrospective. For the final position of the figure, Millet straightened her upright a bit, nearly level - ing her shoulders horizontally. The unusual form under the figure’s left arm corresponds to the left knee of the riverbank figure, while the suggestion of a drapery line across the drawing nude’s buttocks is actually an approximation of the heavy shadow that shapes the painting figure’s bottom.

Deux baigneurs , 1848, oil on wood; Musée d’Orsay (RF141)