Plowman and his Team Resting 1846

Editor: Right, so, next up is Charles Jacque’s etching, "Plowman and his Team Resting" from 1846. It’s a pretty small print, housed at The Art Institute of Chicago. It gives me this feeling of quiet weariness, but there's also a certain beauty in its depiction of labor, don't you think? What do you see in this piece? Curator: Weariness, absolutely. And beauty, yes, the hard-won beauty of honest work. It whispers of Millet, doesn't it? This is Jacque, etching in 1846. Look how the landscape sighs – those soft lines suggesting rolling hills, tired beasts. See the tiny figure slumped beside the plow? Feel his exhaustion mirrored in the bowed heads of his team? The Impressionistic style makes the scene relatable, down-to-earth. He rests; they rest; we rest in looking. It’s incredibly human, incredibly moving. What do you think about that? Editor: That connection to Millet makes total sense! And the "sighing landscape"—I love that description. It definitely emphasizes the shared exhaustion. It makes me consider my own relationship with rest and work in a different way. Curator: Indeed. He speaks of the human condition through animals. A mirror for our times, and indeed, any time. Are we not all beasts of burden in our own way, and in search of our green pasture of respite? What a marvelous rendering of a deep shared yearning! Editor: That's a beautiful way of putting it. This makes the work so much more impactful and deeply resonant for me! Curator: Yes. The artist found rest with the plowman, and so too might we. Thanks for joining in my reverie. Editor: Thank you so much! This was so helpful and inspiring!