John Wesley Cotton, painter and etcher, was born in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada on October 29, 1868. His studies began in Toronto at the Art Students League in 1886, followed by studies at the Art Institute of Chicago.
In 1911 he began a two-year period of study with E. M. Wilson in London. During World War I, Cotton spent time in Belgium and France and a body of his work is devoted to the picturesque landscape of Europe.
This image, done using color etching and aquatint, depicts a Flemish (Belgian) peasant woman carrying two large pots to fetch water from a stream, using a yoke to take the strain off her arms. She is dressed in traditional costume, including a white bonnet.