Vrouw aan het werk op het land c. 1882 - 1884

Willem Witsen sketched this evocative scene of a woman working the land with charcoal on paper. The bent posture of labor is an ancient motif, stretching back to depictions of agricultural life in ancient Egypt, and echoing through Millet's paintings of French peasants. Consider the 'Pathosformel' of bending and toil, which carries the weight of human perseverance. The stooped figure is not merely a record of labor, but a symbol of humankind's eternal struggle with nature and the land. From the bowed figures of the downtrodden in Daumier's prints, to images of hardship during the Industrial Revolution, the act of bending has become a visual shorthand for physical and emotional strain, signifying both the cost and the dignity of labor. The sketch invites us to contemplate the timeless, cyclical nature of human endeavor.