Cooling the Porridge (1861, Met-Objekt 4909)
Original title: Cooling the Porridge
kurzbeschreibung
In 1861 Jean-François Millet etched a woman holding a bowl of porridge in an interior. The print was made as an etching on chine collé and survives here in the fifth of five states. It belongs among Millet's many accounts of rural daily life.
Description
A seated woman holds the bowl in both hands and looks down into it, thoughtful. Her dress is plain and her head covered; her posture stays calm and self-contained. On a table behind her stand a basket and another object, probably a cloth. A dark curtain dominates the room and sets the figure off clearly. Light falls from the front onto her face and hands, while the surroundings stay in restrained hatching.
Context
Millet made this print in 1861, a period when he was working closely with peasant life. Food and domestic labour recur throughout his work. Etching let him circulate his ideas in editions and so reach a wider public.
Impact
A quiet intimacy comes from the concentrated woman. The black-and-white etching, with its fine hatching, creates a calm, reflective mood and draws the viewer into the everyday life of the nineteenth century.
Technique
Etched lines bitten into a metal plate, printed with fine hatching and cross-hatching on chine collé — a thin Japanese paper mounted on a support sheet. The density and direction of the strokes model the body and produce the muted light.
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Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)