Work (1852–1865) is a painting by Ford Madox Brown that is generally considered to be his most important achievement. It exists in two versions. The painting attempts to portray, both literally and analytically, the totality of the Victorian social system and the transition from a rural to an urban economy. Brown began the painting in 1852 and completed it in 1865, when he set up a special exhibition to show it along with several of his other works. He wrote a detailed catalogue explaining the significance of the picture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work_(painting)
The other version:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Ford_Madox_Brown_-_Work_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
Always puzzled by this paintings that fit within a blank white curve, I assume they were made to fill a psace below and archway in a municipal building or museum.
I assumed the same.
