Peasant Digging
Medium
Woodcut on greenish-gray laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 14.2 × 10.6 cm (5 5/8 × 4 3/16 in.); Sheet: 28.2 × 21.2 cm (11 1/8 × 8 3/8 in.)
Classification
woodcut
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
76459
Art Historical Context
Jean-François Millet's *Peasant Digging*1863) captures the quiet dignity of rural labor, a hallmark of the artist's realist style. As a leading figure in the Barbizon School Millet drew inspiration from the French countryside near Barbizon, where he lived and worked. This woodcut portrays a solitary peasant at work, emphasizing the physical toil and endurance of everyday people during an era of social upheaval, including the industrialization of mid-19th-century France. Millet's empathetic gaze elevated peasants from mere subjects to symbols of humanity's noble struggle, influencing later arti...