![](http://www.alamy.com/thumbs/6/88A259DB-F3D4-4314-B484-E97C710B5C5B/2K03YAR.jpg)
"The Russian Serf", painted by Joseph J. Jenkins - from the Exhibition of the Society of Painters in Water-colours, 1854. 'Russian peasants are all serfs; and here we see a female in the act of drawing water for the use of a party of soldiers in the distance; the employment of females in civil labour being a distinctive characteristic of barbarous and semi civilised nations. Behind, resting on the back of the old horse, is a young urchin serf whose contented look betrays the fact that he is little aware of the cruel austerities to which fate submits his afterlife; smiling as he does
"The Russian Serf", painted by Joseph J. Jenkins - from the Exhibition of the Society of Painters in Water-colours, 1854. 'Russian peasants are all serfs; and here we see a female in the act of drawing water for the use of a party of soldiers in the distance; the employment of females in civil labour being a distinctive characteristic of barbarous and semi civilised nations. Behind, resting on the back of the old horse, is a young urchin serf whose contented look betrays the fact that he is little aware of the cruel austerities to which fate submits his afterlife; smiling as he does in his chains. Mr Jenkins, whose delicate pencil is unrivalled in this branch of art, has given a couleur-de-rose aspect to the whole subject, which though highly agreeable in a picture, we fear little accords with the stern realities of the subject. The costume is accurate and very '. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.
Size: 2451px × 3246px
Photo credit: © The Print Collector / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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