By the end of the 19th century, 80% of those in Europe lived in towns and cities, drawn there by the promise of material riches that were not available to them in the country. This new series explores what they faced.
history
Short summaries of each of the articles in this series looking at the reality of life and work in the country from 1500 to the early 20th century.
Boudin’s beach paintings heralding Impressionism, the turn of the plough, the flax harvest, stave churches, an early mermaid, Turner’s white rabbit, and more.
Life in the country has its idyllic moments: a worker lying in the sun and flowers, a meal with violin music, country dancing, and courting, even among the cows.
Painted by Jules Breton, Jean-François Millet, Jules Bastien-Lepage, Léon Augustin Lhermitte and others during the late 19th century.
Rural depopulation as labour moved to work in city factories, dominance of larger suppliers in food markets, draining waterlogged land, and the development of the tractor.
Ploughing, sowing, weeding, calving and lambing, the hay harvest, sheep shearing, the grain harvest, fruit harvests, then back again to the start.
Self-help thatching and maintaining your scythe, blacksmiths hard at work in their forges, a tilt-hammer in another forge, and a tinker fixing pots.
From the Middle Ages, strictly regulated for trade between producer and consumer, then dominated by increasingly rich merchants and middlemen.
The humble vegetable that enabled Europe’s population boom in the 19th century. When diseased by blight, it resulted in more than a million deaths.
The Eclectic Light Company 