The Raker

The Raker is a powerful print created by Jean-François Millet in 1853. This striking work is executed as a woodcut on chine collé, a specialized printing technique where a thin, often fragile sheet of paper is mounted onto a heavier support sheet during the printing process. This method allowed the artist to achieve richer, more nuanced tones and greater detail than typical relief prints. Classified as a foundational 19th-century print, the medium itself aided Millet in disseminating images of rural labor to a broader audience than was typical for his larger oil paintings.

Millet was a central figure of the French Realist movement, dedicating his career to depicting the unvarnished realities of peasant life. This piece centers directly on the theme of Working, illustrating a solitary woman engaged in the arduous agricultural task of raking a field. The composition captures the essential, cyclical nature of farm labor, emphasizing the profound physical demand required of the worker. The woman, bent over her implement, embodies the dignity and struggle of the rural poor, subjects that often faced criticism from the Parisian academic elite during this period.

The artist’s dedication to these themes resonated widely, establishing him as the definitive painter of the agricultural worker. Millet’s influential prints and paintings inspired many subsequent artists interested in social documentation. This fine impression of the work currently resides in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As with many significant 19th-century prints, the original work is highly valued, but its broad dissemination ensures that images of this pivotal piece remain accessible, often through resources featuring public domain artworks.