In this horizontal composition by Childe Hassam, the opening between the barn doors frames the farmer in the dark middle ground. The square shape of the opening repeats in the background, where light can be seen entering the barn at the opposite end. Hassam borrowed this composition and treatment of light and shadow from The Lime-Burner in Whistler’s Thames Set. In that print, the timbered entrance to the workshop frames the figure and four ladders in the middle ground. Hassam also explored a ladder motif; he placed one to the left of the hay cart and repeated its pattern in the transom windows of the barn’s front and rear entrances. As Whistler often did, Hassam printed the etching himself and signed it with the abbreviation “imp.,” from the Latin impressit, “pressed or printed.” But unlike Whistler, Hassam chose to leave the margin of the print intact and did not trim out a small tab for his signature.