Women Carrying Faggots, ca. 1858, Charcoal heightened with white gouache, charcoal border, on heavy laid gray-blue paper, 13 1/2 x 10 7/8 in. (34. 3 x 27. 6 cm), Drawings, Jean-Francois Millet (French, Gruchy 1814?1875 Barbizon), This extraordinary drawing in charcoal and gouache was once in the collection of the Dutch landscape painter Hendrick Mesdag (1831-1915), a collector of French artists of the Barbizon School. Millet was fascinated by the sight of peasants gathering, cutting, binding, and carrying faggots in the forest of Fontainebleau, his native landscape for much of his life