The painting was exhibited in 1853 with the title Le repos des Moissonneurs, aka Harvesters Resting. Millet’s harvesters are Nooning, and this is a stop for lunch and not a picnic.
Though the harvesters are portrayed as contemporary agricultural workers, the subtext alludes to The Book of Ruth. The figure of the hooded woman (left center) is intended as a gleaner, who, like Ruth, had fallen on hard times and followed the harvesters searching for scraps.
See Jean-Francois Millet. Harvesters Resting (1852 c.), oil on canvas. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston