Ballin described his murals in a pamphlet published in 1913:
"Labor, attended by the spirits of rain and sunshine. Labor is seated on a low mound surveying the country. her attributes are the harrow, a shovel and a laden basket. In the background is shown a low factory. In the distance a storm is brewing while the figure of sunshine and the spirit of rain attend Labor."

In addition to the six "attributes" of the state, Ballin included several other beautiful female figure to represent qualities he admired about Wisconsin in his murals in the Executive Chamber. In this panel, positioned on the ceiling among the "attributes," Ballin offered a representation of Labor, an interesting choice given Wisconsin's tumultuous history of labor unrest. Organized labor had won several hard-fought victories in Wisconsin before 1912, including a successful campaign for the 8-hour day in 1886, and, working with Robert LaFollette's Progressive Party, had helped to pass the country's first worker's compensation law the previous year. Instead of representing those victories with a more realistic portrayal of historical events, like in the panels that lined the walls of the Executive Chamber, Ballin depicts Labor as a diaphanous woman being attended to by equally beautiful servants. Indeed, reviewer Ada Rainey noted the especially luscious colors in this panel, saying that it was "particularly effective in composition and color.... Rain in blue-green draperies and Sunshine in opalescent hues contrasting effectively." Although Ballin's inclusion of Labor among the other female figures on the ceiling suggests he recognized the importance of workers to the state's history, rather than celebrate working people by representing them in his panel devoted to Labor, he painted Labor as an idealized, almost supernatural form.

Image courtesy of the Wisconsin State Historical Society.

Ballin's quotation appears in his pamphlet, "Mural Paintings in the Executive Chamber, State Capitol Building Madison, Wisconsin," (New York: 1913).

Rainey's quotation in The International Studio vol. 51, no. 204 (Feb., 1914)