A Son of the Soil (1856) by James Collinson

James Collinson (9 May 1825 – 24 January 1881) was a Victorian painter who was one of seven founder members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a group of painters in mid-Victorian Britain.

In this painting we see a young man considering whether to sign up for the Army Work Corps in the Crimea, during the Crimean War (1853-1856). The Army Work Corps was set up to provide support to the army in the Crimean war. The rough territory in the war zone, which was on the Crimean Peninsula and around the Black Sea, had no proper roads, and no railway to transport troops and supplies.

The man’s face looks weather-beaten. One of his fingers points t0 two coins on the table. ‘A Son of the Soil’ probably shows a story that contemporary people would have found easy to read.
A Son of the Soil (1856) by James Collinson