Man Turning over the Soil

This print is a proof impression of an unfinished wood engraving, a type of printmaking that involves carving an image on the end grain of a very hard wood, such as box wood. The dynamic hatched lines, which may be evidence of Millet's grappling with this difficult medium, appear deliberately roughhewn. The image was intended as an illustration for the rustic poetry of the classical Greek poet Theocritus. Millet, who was a wide reader, saw parallels between the stoic farmers of antiquity and those of his own time.