08/23/2025
Eero Järnefelt (1863–1937) Under the Yoke (Burning the Brushwood), 1893, Oil on canvas, 164 x 131 cm, Ateneum, Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki . . Erik Eero Nikolai Järnefelt was a Finnish painter and art professor. He is best known for his portraits and landscapes of the area around Koli National Park. He was a medal winner at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1889 and 1900, and he taught art at the University of Helsinki and was chairman of the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts.'Under the Yoke (Burning the Brushwood)' is Jarnefelt's most famous work. It was was painted in Lapinlahti, Northern Savo, Finland where the Jarnefelts spent the summer of 1893 at the Rannan Puurula farmhouse. The tradition of burn-beating was still practiced in the area then, and the artist drew sketches of the land and took photographs of the men and women at work during the summer. The model for the main character in the painting was Johanna Kokkonen, a 14 year-old maid of the household. Jarnefelt has blackened the girl's face with soot, added a surrounding halo of smoke and painted such reproach in her eyes as to appeal to the viewer's heart on behalf of these heavily burdened people. (Finnish National Gallery)