Summer Time: Through the Hayfield, Worcestershire

Details

Benjamin Williams Leader, R.A. (1831-1923)
Summer Time: Through the Hayfield, Worcestershire
signed and dated 'B.W.Leader. 1866' (lower left)
oil on canvas
27¾ x 47¼ in. (70.5 x 120 cm.)

Provenance

Purchased from the artist by Galloway, 1866, £189.
Anonymous sale; [R.J. Bowermann], Christie's, 12 March 1904, lot 126 (as 'Summer-Time', 165 gns to Vokins).
with L. O'Callaghan, Dublin, by 1911.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 12 March 1973, lot 181.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, Belgravia, 26 June 1976, lot 184.
with Richard Green, London.

Literature

The artist's own sale records, 1866.
Country Life, 19 August 1976, illustrated in supplement, p. 29.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

Two studies relating to this work have been recorded: a small finished oil on panel, signed and dated 1866 (14 x 17½ in.), now in a private collection; and a preliminary pencil sketch in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

Born at Worcester in 1831, Leader took up residence in the nearby village of Whittington in the early 1860s. This summer landscape depicts the surrounding fields, most probably on Crockbarrow Hill. It is particularly charming, and ostensibly restful, though Leader wittily incorporates the dog's excitement at a pheasant which has been startled from its hiding place.

We are grateful to Ruth Wood for her help in preparing this catalogue entry.

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