Two women working hay

This sheet belongs to a group of twenty drawings owned by Millet’s friend and patron Alfred Sensier. The group was sold after his death in a dedicated section called ‘L’Epopée des champs’, a series Millet never completed, that would have formed a complete record of agricultural work over the course of the year. Many of Sensier’s drawings were acquired by the British collector James Staats Forbes, who had a particular interest in the Barbizon School.