Sketches, Fragment: Head of a Woman Wearing a Kerchief

Sketches, Fragment: Head of a Woman Wearing a Kerchief by Jean François Millet, the revered French artist (1814-1875), offers an intimate glimpse into his working process during the final years of his career, spanning 1863-1875. Classified as a print, this piece is derived from a woodcut, a medium Millet employed to translate his powerful depictions of rural life into reproducible formats accessible to a wider audience.

The work is executed as a woodcut fragment taken from a partially printed block, suggesting it may have been an element within a larger composition or a preparatory study destined for eventual reproduction. Printed on tan wove paper, the texture and coloration emphasize the drawing-like quality of the image. This small study, depicting the humble face of a woman wearing a simple kerchief, maintains its original backing, featuring an important inscription in dark brown ink on white wove lined card, documenting its provenance or context within the artist's estate.

While Millet is best known for monumental oil paintings that defined 19th-century Realism in France, his extensive output of drawings and prints, such as this fragment, reveals his dedication to capturing the dignity and hardship inherent in peasant subjects. The subtle, yet powerful, draftsmanship visible in this head study is characteristic of Millet’s late style. This important print is held in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, providing scholars and the public an essential example of the artist’s graphic work, much of which today is widely shared through the public domain.