Jean-François Millet

Studio of the artist (and sold, his studio sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, May 10-11, 1875, probably lot 173 or 175, as Moissonneurs endormis)
Michel Boy (and sold, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, June 17, 1905, lot 90)
Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, London 
Acquired from the above (circa 1989)

Paper is light struck. Old hinges visible on reverse. Small stain in lower right corner. Two small circular areas of discoloration in upper left and right corners. 1/2 inch repaired tear at center of left edge.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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Study of a Man and Woman Asleep on a Haystack is Millet’s principal working drawing for the male harvester in the artist’s much-admired La Méridienne (or Noonday Rest), a composition he first developed in 1858-59 for a set of prints depicting the Four Hours of the Day and subsequently enlarged for the pastel Noonday Rest (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, fig. 1).  Millet’s role in the creation of the Realist movement is intricately entwined with his respect for centuries of pastoral imagery in Western art and his fundamental commitment to careful figure drawing.   For the appealingly insouciant harvester featured in this study, with his bare feet and well-beaten top hat, Millet brought long hours of observation of the Barbizon peasants among whom he lived to bear upon the inherited traditions of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Northern prints and almanacs.  Determined to honor the exhaustion and hard work of his harvesting neighbors, as well as their individuality, Millet created a figural composition of unusual power.  The impact of Millet’s figures in Noonday Rest had a particular resonance for Vincent van Gogh, who paid homage to the composition in his 1889 copy (Musée d’Orsay, Paris, fig. 2).