Woman on a Divan, or Lacing Her Sandal

In circa 1882, Millet painted this horizontal watercolor of a woman in a Greek gown, sitting on a divan and lacing her sandal.  He entitled the watercolor, Lacing Her Sandal or Woman on a Divan. 

Then in circa 1883, Millet painted a vertical oil painting, with a similar looking woman, standing with her right foot resting on a low table also lacing her sandal.  That second painting was entitled, Lacing the [a] Sandal [also shown in the website gallery].

  Lacing the [a] Sandal

In Lacing the [a] Sandal sometimes “the” is replaced by “a.” There is even an occasional “Her” instead of “the.”). Consequently, having two similar works, with similar looking models, and some of the same props in each painting often cause some confusion as to which painting is which.

The same leopard skin rug is seen in both sandal paintings, however in the earlier watercolor, Millet has the woman sitting on a white painted wood divan with leaf motifs carved along the edge of the recliner.  Both Greek chiton gowns are similar with only the Strophion ribbon color changed, blue in the standing painting and green in the sitting one.

Both, Greek genre, paintings depict a woman wearing a Greek gown from Millet’s large costume collection, even possibly sewn by Millet.  At this time Millet was recognized both in America and Europe as the leading expert in Greek and Roman costume. It seems from newspaper clippings that he may have given more than a hundred presentations, often painting a small work while speaking.

Greek/Roman genre artwork done by Millet similar to the “Lacing…” paintings:

Lolla, circa 1883, is an oil on canvas, which was exhibited at the Society of American Artists in 1883.  This image is from the Illustrated Catalogue of the Art Department, Eleventh Cincinnati Industrial Exposition, 1883, pg 70, No. 51

A Classical Figure, circa 1883, is a graphite on paper drawing.  It is 7.5 x 5 inches and held in a private collection.  This sketch, is so similar to the hair style, dress and strophion ribbon seen in the “Lacing…” paintings that it falls squarely into Millet’s Greek/Roman genre artwork, his costume creation and lectures.