Starry Night

Artist: Jean-François Millet (French, 1814–1875)

ca. 1850–65

European Art

On view, 2nd floor, European Art

Jean-François Millet may have painted this work shortly after he moved to Barbizon, an artists' colony south of Paris, in 1849. Retouched by the artist some fifteen years later, Starry Night is one of Millet's most dramatic experiments in nocturnal landscape. The composition and evocative light effects bring to mind Vincent van Gogh's famous painting of the same title (Museum of Modern Art, New York). Van Gogh may have been influenced by this painting, which he could have seen in Paris between 1873 and 1875; his admiration of Millet's work is well known.

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

unframed: 25 3/4 × 32 in. (65.4 × 81.3 cm)

Credit Line

Leonard C. Hanna, Jr., Class of 1913, Fund

Accession Number

1961.22

Culture

French

Period

19th century

Classification

Paintings

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
Sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, May 10–11, 1875, lot 32. Sale, Galerie Goupil, London, February 26, 1878; sold to George Lillie Craik (1837–1905), London, 1878; by descent to his son, James S. Knapp–Fisher (died 1976), London (consigned to P.D. Colnaghi and Company, London, 1961); sold to the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 1961
Bibliography
  • Jean Mayet, Marie-Paule Laurent, and Nicole Laignel-Lavastine, De Millet á ses petites-filles: toute une lignée d'artistes (Louge-sur-Maire, France: Humusaire, 2012), 202–03, ill.
  • George T.M. Shackelford et al., Millet: sessanta capolavori dal Museum of Fine Arts di Boston, exh. cat. (Conegliano, Italy: Linea d'ombra, 2005), 44–47, ill.
  • Alexandra R Murphy, Jean-François Millet: drawn into the light, exh. cat. (Williamstown: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1999)
  • Zhengguang He, J. F. Millet (Shijiazhuang, China: Hebei jiao yu chu ban she, 1998), no. 60, ill.
  • Louis van Tilbourgh et al., Millet, Van Gogh: Paris, Musée d'Orsay: 14 septembre 1998–3 janvier 1999, exh. cat. (Paris: Reunion des Musees Nationaux, 1998), 114–19, no. 53, fig. Cat. 53
  • Laurent Manœuvre, Millet: les saisons (Paris: Herscher, 1996), 42–3, ill.
  • André Fermigier, Millet (Genéva, Switzerland: Skira, 1991), 116–20, ill.
  • Shohei Iida, Mire meisaku 100-sen (Tokyo: Nihon Terebi Hosomo, 1991), 110–11, no. 51, ill.
  • Alexandra R Murphy et al., Jean-François Millet, exh. cat. (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1984), no. 132
  • André Ferminger, Jean-François Millet (Geneva: Skira, 1977), 125–126
  • Griselda Pollock, Millet (London: Oresko Books Ltd, 1977), 44–5, no. IV, ill.
  • André Fermigier, Jean-François Millet (New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1977), 124–26, ill.
  • Robert L. Herbert, Jean François-Millet, exh. cat. (London: The Arts Council of Great Britain, 1976), 150, no. 64, ill.
  • Andrew Carnduff Ritchie and Katherine Neilson, Selected Paintings and Sculpture from the Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1972), no. 74, ill.
  • Metropolitan Museum of Art, Detroit Institute of Arts, and Aaron Sheon, "French art and science in the mid 19th century," The Art Quarterly (1971), 434–55
  • Dario Durbe and Anna Maria Damigella, La scuola di Barbizon di Dario Durbée Anna Maria Damigella (Milano, Italy: Fabbri, 1969), 20–22, 79, ill.
  • Francoise Forster-Hahn, French and School of Paris Paintings in the Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1968), 18, pl. 6
  • Robert L. Herbert, "Millet Reconsidered," Museum Studies 1 (1966), 29–55
  • "Recent Gifts and Purchases," Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin 28, nos. 2–3 (December 1962), 49
  • Yong Zheng, "Hazlitt Gallery," The Times (May 12, 1958), 14
  • T. Mullaly, "Barbizon School Paintings," Daily Telegraph and Morning Post (May 12, 1958), 10
  • Etienne Moreau-Nélaton, Millet; raconté par lui-même, 3 (Paris: H. Laurens, 1921)
  • Peintures, aquarelles, pastels, dessins de Jean-Franc¸ois Millet, releve´s dans les catalogues de ventes de 1849 a` 1900 (Paris: L. Soullie, 1900), 42
  • Henry Naegely, J.F. Millet and Rustic Art (London: Elliot Stock Publishing, 1898), 124
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Subject

night sky stars

Inscriptions

[LL] "J.F. Millet"

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