Jongen met twee ossen en een ploeg

This high-contrast woodblock print shows a ploughman laboring with two oxen in a rugged landscape. To the right, two figures in pastoral dress observe the scene, while a large sun or moon dips behind a dark hill. The work is characterized by bold, expressive lines that create a sense of movement and spiritual weight within a rural setting.

Created for Robert Thornton's edition of Virgil's Pastorals, these woodcuts represent Blake's 'visionary' interpretation of nature as a site of spiritual labor. The series was foundational for 'The Ancients,' a group of artists including Samuel Palmer who viewed such pastoral scenes through a lens of Neoplatonic and mystical idealism.