Three Smocks Among the Pines

A sandy path through a forest of tall pines near Wittenberg on a hot summer afternoon, sunlight falling in stripes between the dark trunks, low wooden huts behind grass-covered earth banks among the trees, three women walking side by side along the path, seen from directly behind, faces turned fully away, the outer two in dark blue-grey belted smocks with wide collars, the middle one in a smock of pale unbleached linen, all three in gathered puffed fabric caps covering their hair, wide knee breeches and dark knee socks, the outer two in laced leather boots, the middle one in strapped shoes, one carrying a plain wooden box by its handle.