Wood splitters

"Wood Splitters" is an 1886 painting by Australian artist Tom Roberts. It depicts three rural laborers splitting and stacking timber in preparation for charcoal production. Roberts drew inspiration from the Barbizon school and artist Jules Bastien-Lepage, and he explored similar themes of rural labor in later works such as "A Break Away!" and "Shearing the Rams."

Roberts created "Wood Splitters" based on sketches he made during a camping trip with fellow artist Frederick McCubbin in Box Hill, a rural area east of Melbourne. The painting was acquired by the Art Gallery of Ballarat in 1961, but it was stolen in 1978. A ransom was paid the following year, and the painting was ultimately recovered in a Sydney park.