First Steps — About This Work
Jean-François Millet, c. 1859–66
About the Work
A child takes first steps between two adults in a garden. Millet makes a small domestic event the centre of the drawing, organising the figures around the uncertain movement between support and independence.
Black chalk is joined by pastel on beige paper. The museum places the work within the period when Millet increasingly added colour to his rural drawings, broadening their tonal and commercial possibilities.
The scene's intimacy depends on the space between the figures. The child's progress joins them across that interval, so the image can be read through gesture and attention rather than through an elaborate setting or a dramatic action.
The Work
Artist: Jean-François Millet
Title: First Steps
Date: c. 1859–66
Medium: Black chalk and pastel on beige laid paper
Recorded dimensions: 45.9 × 29.5 cm (W × H)
Collection: Cleveland Museum of Art
Accession number: 1962.407
Print & Presentation
Palatine presentation: 40 × 60 cm Classic Frame, landscape.
The complete artwork is reproduced at its recorded scale, subject only to negligible whole-pixel rounding, without enlargement, reduction, cropping or distortion. The surrounding white presentation area accommodates the artwork within the framed presentation and is incorporated into the print rather than added as a separate mount.
Frame finishes: Black, White or Natural.
Paper & glazing: Enhanced Matte + Perspex; or Enhanced Matte + Moth-Eye.
Why Original Scale?
Most art-print shops offer the same image in a choice of Small, Medium and Large sizes. We take a different approach. For each edition, we begin with the recorded dimensions of the original work and reproduce the complete image at that scale, preserving its proportions and avoiding enlargement, reduction, cropping or distortion.
Source: Image: The Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0. Gift of Mrs. Thomas H. Jones, Sr.. 1962.407.
Care: Display in a dry interior away from prolonged direct sunlight and sources of moisture.
Notes from Palatine
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