Henri Delavallée (Reims, 1862 - Pont-Aven, 1943) knew very early, in 1881, the small city of Pont-Aven. Admirer of Corot or Millet, Delavallée regularly visits the "city of mills", especially in the summer, as do many of his co-religionists who are leaving the forest of Fontainebleau this season. In 1886, he met Gauguin and formed a friendly relationship. Here is what Delavallée reports, remembering their first meeting in 1886:
I was standing in front of Gloannec's terrace when Gauguin appeared to me for the first time; he had a beret on his head and wore one of these easels in front of which one can work standing up. I went to him and I remember that we talked about Degas and Pissarro whom he admired a lot ... His painting of that time was very zebra and the questions of technique, at that time, worried him much more than the questions of doctrine.
This last remark, which emphasizes the use of zebra brush stroke in Gauguin painting, seems to apply with the same relevance to this threshing scene painted by Delavallée. Dated 1886, this painting, which describes a realistic and rural scene that would not have been disowned by a Millet or a Pissarro, suggests a closeness between the two painters.