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Lot Essay
Originally Mrs Allingham executed this composition as a drawing to be engraved on wood, as it was intended to illustrate her husband's poem whose verse she quotes in this present watercolour's title, but he never completed it. The unfinished illustration was exhibited at The Black and White Exhibition, Dudley Gallery, 1878 where an art critic considered it 'The Sweetest and tenderest figure subject...'.
Mrs Allingham then followed with this present glowing watercolour. The figure of the reaper stands monumentally against the landscape in which he has been working and as he walks home he glances back at the rising moon. In Allingham's later work the figures tend to be less dominant in the composition but here the large central figure shows the influence of Frederick Walker (1840-1875).
Another version of this watercolour was sold in these Rooms, The Forbes Collection, 20 February 2003, lot 54 (£12,000). Mrs Allingham exhibited a watercolour bearing the title 'The Harvest Moon' at the Society of Painters in Water-Colour, 1879, no. 169 however it is not clear which version it was.
We are grateful to Annabel Watts for her help in preparing this catalogue entry.
Mrs Allingham then followed with this present glowing watercolour. The figure of the reaper stands monumentally against the landscape in which he has been working and as he walks home he glances back at the rising moon. In Allingham's later work the figures tend to be less dominant in the composition but here the large central figure shows the influence of Frederick Walker (1840-1875).
Another version of this watercolour was sold in these Rooms, The Forbes Collection, 20 February 2003, lot 54 (£12,000). Mrs Allingham exhibited a watercolour bearing the title 'The Harvest Moon' at the Society of Painters in Water-Colour, 1879, no. 169 however it is not clear which version it was.
We are grateful to Annabel Watts for her help in preparing this catalogue entry.