GLASGOW.- A pastel of “The Angelus” by Jean-François Millet is on display at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. The pastel will hang in the Fragile Art space in the museum for the next four months. Glasgow Museums has been allocated the work in lieu of inheritance tax by the Government.

The subject of the work is the angelus prayer which was said three times a day on hearing the toll of nearby church bells. It shows two workers saying their prayer during their day in the potato fields. The oil painting of the same name is in the collection of the Musee d’Orsay along with another of Millet’s better known works ‘The Gleaners’.

The pastel has been in Scottish ownership since 1906 but its thought it hasn’t been seen by the public for 100 years. The allocation of the pastel to Glasgow’s Collection is the result of a specific request by the former owners of the pastel.

Councillor George Redmond, Chair of Glasgow Life said: “Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum will be the perfect home for this beautiful pastel. It follows the hugely successful display of Titian’s Diana and Acteon last summer and has extra importance as it appears likely Kelvingrove is offering people their first chance in exactly 100 years to come and see this pastel.”