Morning, preparing to plough

A set of four prints were produced entitled Herring's Farm Scenes which were engraved by J. Harris and published by E. Gambart & Co, 25 Berners Street, Oxford and in Paris by Goupil, Vibert & Co. A smaller set was also later produced. The set of four comprised Morning, Noon, Evening and Night. The present work exhibits the exceptionally fine quality of the detail and execution that would be expected for a painting which was intended to be used for a print. The prints for Morning and Noon are reproduced in O. Beckett, J.F. Herring & Sons, London, 1981, pls. 105 & 106, p. 165. In 1848 Herring had declared that he would not paint another racing winner unless he could 'make a subject of it', and he became more keen on broadening his subject matter to include rural genre scenes. This new interest would be furthered by his move to Meopham Park in Kent in 1853, whereupon such meticulously detailed farmyard scenes as the present painting became a major focus of his work.