In a field of dry grass, under a scorching sun, a young farmer advances with his face in shadow protected by a straw hat, a bundle of hay in the basket on his shoulders and a sickle hanging from his neck. Behind him, a dark spot in the background, is another farmer busy taming a runaway horse. The high and inclined horizon, taken from Fattori, separates a strip of brown land from the gray-blue sky. The composition is flooded with light, the true protagonist of the painting, while the color frays in long and thin brushstrokes.