"Digger" is a profound print created by Jean-François Millet in 1863, demonstrating the artist’s commitment to depicting the dignity and reality of agrarian life. This specific impression is a woodcut printed on laid paper and represents the second, or final, state of the image. The classification confirms its place among Millet’s late-career graphic arts output.
Throughout his career, Millet was centrally concerned with the depiction of working men and women, often utilizing stark compositions to emphasize the isolation and effort required by manual labor. Here, the solitary figure of the digger is rendered in powerful, essential lines characteristic of the woodcut medium, focusing entirely on the physical act of turning the earth. Although the image design dates to 1863, this particular set of prints was published posthumously, indicating the ongoing demand for Millet's socially engaged subjects well into the 1870s and beyond.
Millet’s influence on subsequent generations of artists stemmed largely from his unflinching portrayals of common rural life. This compelling print is housed in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, preserving a key example of 19th-century Realism. Due to its historical significance and widespread appeal, high-resolution prints of works like Digger are often found in public domain archives, allowing the enduring legacy of Millet’s powerful focus on working-class subjects to remain widely accessible.
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