The Gleaners
Jean-Francois Millet (1857)
Three peasant women bend in a solemn rhythm, gleaning leftover stalks under a dry, late-afternoon light. In the far distance, tiny carts, haystacks, and an overseer on horseback signal abundance and authority, while the foreground figures loom with <strong>monumental gravity</strong>, asserting the dignity of labor amid inequality <sup>[1]</sup><sup>[2]</sup>.