A Road by a Cottage

Two peasants converse on a track that runs past two cottages. Behind them a chestnut horse pulls a wagon laden with hay, which suggests that this scene is set at the end of summer, when the meadows are cut and the hay brought in to feed the livestock over the coming winter.

The cottage in the right foreground is simple and constructed from planks of wood at its gable end. A narrow grass path runs up to it through the glade of silver birch trees. The trees, especially the foliage, are meticulously painted in this carefully composed and finely painted view.

Two shaggy goats sit on the path in the foreground, while a third, or possibly a sheep, wanders off to graze. A white cow stands beneath the birch trees in the middle ground with its back to us. In the distance, across the fields, are the spires and towers of a small town.

Credit: Bequeathed by William Thomas Blinco, 1922