Peasant with a Wheelbarrow
by MILLET, Jean-François, Oil on canvas, 45 x 38 cm
This canvas, with its noble figure bathed in golden light, demonstrates the artist’s ability to idealize the people who worked the fields of the French countryside. With his simple farm tools and clothing, the peasant pushing a wheelbarrow becomes a timeless symbol of the dignity of labour and of a rapidly disappearing way of life.