Boer met hoed op zittend op een kruk met emmerjuk over de schouder 1807

This drawing by Wouter Johannes van Troostwijk, created around 1807, depicts a farmer seated on a stool, a yoke resting upon his shoulders. Consider the yoke, a tool used to carry burdens, evoking images of labor across cultures and mythologies. We see echoes of it in ancient Egyptian art, where yoked animals symbolized agricultural prosperity, and in Christian iconography, where the yoke embodies submission to divine will. The farmer’s posture, bent under its weight, echoes the stooped figures in Millet’s later paintings, burdened by the weight of rural life. The hat shields him, marking him as part of the working class. Through the ages, this emblem of labor has shifted in meaning, sometimes a mark of dignity, other times of oppression. The emotional resonance of this image lies in its understated portrayal of human resilience, echoing through time and engaging us on a subconscious level with the timeless struggle of those who toil. It's a symbol that continues to resurface, evolving with each telling, yet eternally bound to the human condition.