What I particularly like about this image are the tools of the trade that are shown. The large, gleaming milk bucket and that terrific one-legged milking stool. But I wonder. Did this farmer go into town, tools in hand, to visit the local photography studio with the purpose of having his portrait taken? Or was this taken by one of the numerous itinerant photographers who traveled the roads of rural nineteenth century America? The farmer stands on a simple rug in front of a crude background that could have easily been set up inside or outside of a house or barn.
