The Angelus

The painting depicts two peasants in a field bowing over a basket of potatoes, while saying a prayer, the Angelus. The prayer and the ringing of the church bell mark the end of a day's work. The church is depicted on the horizon.

Millet was commissioned by the American would-be painter and art collector Thomas Gold Appleton, who never came to collect it. The painting drove up the prices for artworks of the Barbizon school to record amounts in the late 19th century.