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Lot Essay
This work dates from Herring's later career, which he spent at Meopham Park near Tonbridge in Kent. During this period Herring broadened his subject matter to incorporate agricultural, farmyard, and narrative scenes. This work admirably combines the careful observation of horses for which he was well known, with a more decorative and immediately accessible subject matter.
His non-sporting works are certainly amongst his most successful. In a letter of 1848 to his old patron Charles Spencer Stanhope, Herring remarks on his commercial success. At this period in his career 'his pictures were no sooner seen than purchased' (O. Beckett, J.F.Herring & Sons, London and New York, 1981, p.57) and this farmyard scene consciously appeals to a wider buying audience of the time.
Herring often asked members of his close circle to pose as his models, and the girl in this work is almost certainly Jenny, Herring's youngest daughter. The model for the male figure may have been William Terry, who worked for Herring for seventeen years until 1856.
His non-sporting works are certainly amongst his most successful. In a letter of 1848 to his old patron Charles Spencer Stanhope, Herring remarks on his commercial success. At this period in his career 'his pictures were no sooner seen than purchased' (O. Beckett, J.F.Herring & Sons, London and New York, 1981, p.57) and this farmyard scene consciously appeals to a wider buying audience of the time.
Herring often asked members of his close circle to pose as his models, and the girl in this work is almost certainly Jenny, Herring's youngest daughter. The model for the male figure may have been William Terry, who worked for Herring for seventeen years until 1856.