This is a painting done in 1850 by Rosa Bonheur called Plowing in the Nivernais. This painting seems to me to be a good representation of the types of works we have discussed this past week. Like many of the others, this painting seems simple and somewhat relaxed. There are not intense brush strokes and color, but rather a more realist approach. In the wake of the industrial revolution was a fight for farmers and craftsmen struggling to keep up with machinery and large companies and factories.

The cattle walking forward takes you from left to right across the painting as the men walk alongside urging them on, although, none the less there is a stillness to the painting. Despite the fact that this task from this painting is portrayed in an easy going manner, the work depicted is labor, and hard labor at that. The farmers plowing the field would have to be outside in the sun and heat, keeping the cattle on track, all day long. Once the field was plowed crops would have to be planted, and like many of the other paintings we have seen, this life is depicted as just another day in the life of a farmer.