NARRATOR—The mood of this autumnal picture by Millet is decidedly bleak. The sky is almost completely overcast, leaving much of the scene shrouded in shadows. Only the tower of the church of Chailly-en-Biere, a tiny village in the vicinity of Barbizon, shows the full illumination of the late afternoon sun.This isolated pocket of brightness does little to mitigate the overall gloominess of the scene. The caped and hooded figure of the turkey keeper at the left
appears to be an intentional reference to traditional personifications of Death as the Grim Reaper.

Even the abandoned cart of firewood and the tree, whose defoliated branches seem to writhe against the cloud-filled sky, contribute to the overall melancholy.

It is easy to imagine Vincent Van Gogh admiring this darkly expressive painting. And indeed, Van Gogh, whose works we will encounter elsewhere in these galleries, was a passionate admirer of Millet