This is one of twenty copies that Vincent van Gogh painted of prints by Jean-François Millet (1814-1875). Van Gogh made them while he stayed in the psychiatric hospital in Saint-Rémy. Being ill had seriously damaged his self-confidence. Van Gogh tried to rebuild that by studying the work of Millet and other artists he admired. This way, Van Gogh could also practice figure painting even though he had no models.