{"id":143306,"title":"The Miller’s Wife (La femme du meunier)","medium":"Charcoal, crayon, and white chalk on gray laid paper","classification":"Drawings","dimension":"24 × 18 1/8 in. (61 × 46 cm)","object_name":"Drawing","continent":"Europe","country":"France","nationality":"French","dated":"19th century","room":"Not on View","role":"Artist","signed":"Lower left: Alex Cabanel","markings":"Watermark: CF in crest","text":"This refined study of a woman in an old flour mill presents her with the dignity that one expects in a realist drawing. The figure is calm, strong, self-satisfied—almost monumental. As she takes a break from operating the grinding mill behind her, she is bathed in a warm light filtering in from the right. \r\n\r\nThe drawing is signed Alex Cabanel, as was the practice of Alexandre Cabanel, one of the most successful artists in nineteenth-century Europe. Apart from his activity as a portraitist, he normally produced historical and mythological pictures—genres diametrically opposed to Realism. Occasionally a drawing or painting like this one surfaces that suggests Cabanel dipped his toe into the realist pool. It is also possible that one of his many students hoped to get a better price for their work by applying the famous artist’s name.","provenance":"Sale, Arenberg Auctions, Brussels, March 29, 2019, no. 209; [Armstrong Fine Art, Chicago, until 2019; to Weisberg]; Yvonne and Gabriel Weisberg, Minneapolis; their gift to Mia, 2023.","creditline":"Gift of Gabriel P. and Yvonne M.L. Weisberg","accession_number":"2023.70.2","artist":"Attributed to Alexandre Cabanel","life_date":"French, Montpellier 1823–Paris 1889","department":"European Art","rights_type":"Public Domain","image_width":5309,"image_height":7028,"recent":0,"see_also":[],"sort_number":"2023    70    2","image":"valid","public_access":1,"curator_approved":0,"highlights":0,"Cache_Location":"143000\\300\\00\\143306","Primary_RenditionNumber":"mia_8027529.jpg","Rights_Image_Display":"Full","mtime":"2026-02-04T06:00:50.797Z"}