Harvest 1780s

Nicolai Dajon created this sculpture “Harvest” from stone, sometime between the late 18th and early 19th century. Here, Dajon reinterprets classical sculpture through the lens of his time, which was during the Age of Enlightenment. The sculpture embodies a tension between freedom and constraint, expressed through the figure's semi-nude form and the drapery that both reveals and conceals. This can be related to the period's own ambivalence towards nature and culture. The figure stands as an allegory of nature’s bounty, but I can't help but wonder: who is this harvest for? While the work ostensibly celebrates nature, it does so through a distinctly gendered lens. It invites us to consider the cultural frameworks through which we understand the natural world. The statue compels us to reflect on the complex relationship between nature, culture, and gender.