Le Faucheur (The reaper)

This etching/engraving is after a painting by the Flemish artist David Teniers the Younger (1610-90), then in the impressive collection belonging to Gilbert-Antoine Ligier de la Prade, in Paris. Teniers was famous for his luminous - and often humorous - depictions of local peasantry. This scene is not noticeably humorous. It shows a somewhat unfriendly looking agricultural labourer wearing an open-necked shirt, holding not one but two scythes and standing in a field. Behind him the harvest is full swing. While the reaper and scythe is a traditional symbol of Death, the emphasis in the poem below is on his back-breaking work. It translates as follows:

Reaping is very tough work./It is — I say it even if it were to make a prude blush —/Especially the loins that do the work/ Which forces this man to stop for a moment. (Trans: Dr Roger Collins)

Te Papa's print, made by Jean-Charles Levasseur (1734-1816) testifies to the enduring impact of Teniers over a century after his lifetime. Levasseur was one of the leading Parisian printmakers of his time and was an elected member of the Academy. He is probably best-known for his engravings after Jean-Baptiste Greuze. Te Papa has four such prints in the Teniers/Levasseur series, all of which were presented to the Colonial Museum by Bishop Ditlev Monrad in 1869.

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art  March 2019