The Last Load Possibly 1869

Winslow Homer’s ‘The Last Load’ was created around 1876, using wood engraving on paper. It was published in Appleton's Journal. The artwork depicts three figures, two women and a man, standing against the backdrop of a harvested field. This image offers a glimpse into the social fabric of rural America during the late 19th century. The figures seem to embody a sense of stoicism, which hints at the demanding nature of agricultural life and the gendered division of labor. The industrial revolution, post civil war, was changing America fast, and views about the role of women in society were evolving, but traditional stereotypes remained. Images of working-class labor, made in the style of high art, would have been a fairly progressive subject for an artwork at the time. To gain a fuller understanding of this artwork, one might turn to historical archives, literary sources, and studies of agrarian life in the 19th century.