The butcher's wife knitting 1878

Émile Friant painted 'The butcher's wife knitting' in 1878 using oil on canvas. Friant's choice to depict a woman engaged in the act of knitting brings a sense of everyday labor into the realm of fine art. The rough texture of the paint, visible in the rendering of the stone threshold and the broom's bristles, contrasts with the smooth surface of the canvas. The composition directs our attention to the foreground, where the tools of her husband's trade – the meat, the broom, the pot – are prominently displayed. Knitting itself is a craft, often associated with domesticity and the labor of women, a counterpoint to the butcher's more physical work. The woman's knitting can be seen as essential to the family's survival as it would have provided essential clothing items. Friant elevates these humble materials and processes, inviting us to reconsider the value we place on different forms of work.