911 - R. Freyberg, grain harvest before the skyline of Quedlinburg, farmers with sheaves, 1950s

R. Freyberg, grain harvest before the skyline of Quedlinburg, farmers with sheaves, 1950s Oil/canvas, signed lower right "R. Freyberg" and dated, the year partly covered by the frame, 1950s, Quedlinburg with farmers, grain harvest on a stubble field, on the left an older man in blue-grey work clothes and a younger one in a white shirt with a sheaf, in the centre a woman with red headscarf, white blouse and blue apron carrying a sheaf, on the right a man lifting a sheaf, stooks of sheaves on the left, in the middle ground a high-loaded harvest wagon with horse team, in the background the skyline of Quedlinburg with the collegiate church of St Servatius on the Schlossberg and the Nikolaikirche with its two pointed towers, pale blue sky with clouds, condition commensurate with age, canvas with tear upper left, canvas slightly wavy and soiled, image 70.5x100.5 cm (HxW), framed, wooden moulding, frame slightly chipped, frame width 5.5 cm The harvest picture shows sheaf farming as practised until the introduction of the combine harvester: the cut stalks of grain were bound into sheaves with a few stalks and set up leaning against each other in the field to dry. Quedlinburg lies north of the Harz in the Bode valley; above the old town with its around 2,100 half-timbered houses rises the Schlossberg, and since 1994 the castle, collegiate church and old town have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In the 10th and 11th centuries Quedlinburg was a centre of power of the Ottonians; according to tradition, Henry I was offered the royal crown here in 919, and his widow Matilda founded the convent in 936 in his memory.