In the foreground a young girl in peasant costume is shaking loose the apples from the tree with the aid of a long stick. Behind her, a second figure, bent low, picks the ripened fruit already scattered on the ground.
Dominating the background is the local church. Several artists in the district painted the church as seen from the entrance, but Osborne chooses the view facing the clock tower.
The picture, which quietly celebrates the dignity of rural labour, recalls the art of Millet. It is also influenced by the work of Bastien Lepage in terms of the predominantly grey-green palette and the suggestion of the 'square brush' technique in the middle-distance of the composition.
(National Gallery of Ireland: Essential Guide, 2008)
Autumn Exhibition, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 1884
Ierse Schilders der 19e en 20e eeuw, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1951
Post-Impressionism, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1979-1980
The Peasant in French 19th Century Art, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, 1980
Walter Osborne, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin; Ulster Museum, Belfast, 1983-1984
The Irish Impressionists: Irish Artists in France and Belgium 1850-1914, National
Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 9 October - 18 November 1984; Ulster Museum, Belfast, 1 February - 10 March 1985
Frank O'Meara, Hugh Lane Municipal Art Gallery, Dublin, 1989
Onlookers in France: Irish Realist and Impressionist Painters, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, 1 October - 22 November 1993
French 19th and 20th Century Paintings from the National Gallery of Ireland: Corot to Picasso, Daimaru Museum, Tokyo, 5 September - 17 September 1996; Daimaru Museum, Kyoto, 10 October - 22 October 1996; Kawaguchiko Museum of Art, Yamanashi, 26 October - 2 December 1996; Daimaru Museum, Umeda,Osaka, 22 January - 9 February 1997; Aomori Municpal Gallery of Art, Aomori, 2 April - 20 April 1997
Peintres Irlandais en Bretagne, Musée de Pont-Aven, 26 June - 27 September 1999
Irish Painters in Brittany, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, 15 May - 7 July 2001