The Labourers in the Vineyard (The Parables of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ)

It took Millais seven years to design twenty images inspired by New Testament Parables for the Dalziel Brothers, and the resulting prints are considered pinnacles of wood engraved illustration. The artist wrote to his publishers, "I can do ordinary drawings as quickly as most men, but these designs can scarcely be regarded in the same light—each Parable I illustrate perhaps a dozen times before I fix [the image]." After completing a design, Millais transferred it to a woodblock coated with "Chinese" white for skilled engravers to carve. Finally, he reviewed proofs, and final adjustments were made before the final printing.
The Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard appears in Matthew 20: 1-16, and tells how a vineyard owner hires workers over the course of a day, then pays all the same wage. Millais shows some angrily questioning this policy. Pre-Raphaelite ideals shaped the combination of detailed naturalism and down-to-earth imagery to produce a work distinctly different from most religious art of the period.