[2] Rosa Bonheur gained a reputation painting animals, and Ploughing in the Nivernais features twelve Charolais oxen, in two groups of six.

[5] According to Albert Boime, the painting should be seen as a glorification of peasant life and its ancient traditions; he places it in the context of the revolutionary year 1848, when cities were the scene of chaos and strife.

Rosa Bonheur made the painting by commission of the French government[3][7] for 3000 francs;[8] it was shown in the Salon in 1849,[9] where it won her a First Medal.

[10] N. D'Anvers repeats an apparently well-known story, that it was inspired by the opening scene of George Sand's novel La Mare au Diable (1846), which features oxen ploughing a landscape with the author's commentary, "a noble subject for a painter".

[8] Besides The Horse Fair,[13] Ploughing in the Nivernais is one of Bonheur's best-known paintings,[14] and somewhat resembles Oxen going to work by Constant Troyon.