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Lot Essay
The theme of the farmer returning home with his animals, particularly the shepherd with his sheep or the herdsman with his oxen, was an important one for Palmer throughout his career, from his Shoreham period in the late 1820s up to his late illustrations to Milton. This example, dated to 1863 by Raymond Lister (loc. cit.) is one of a group of such works executed between 1858 and about 1863 showing a herdsman with two oxen at the beginning or end of the day and either, in an English or an Italian setting.
The first of the is the etching of The Weary Ploughman or The Herdsman or Tardus Bubuleus; this shows a herdsman with his oxen returning home in an English setting. (Barker, op. cit., p. 216-9, nos. 139 a, b and c, illustrated). It was begun in 1858 and published in A Selection of Etchings by the Etching Club, 1865. Probably designed as a companion to this is The Early Ploughman or The Morning spread upon the Mountains, begun before Palmer moved from Kensington to Redhill in 1862; this shows a herdsman setting out at dawn in an Italian setting with poplars on the right (Barker, ibid pp. 219-20, no. 140, illustrated).
Palmer also treated the theme in upright format in three watercolours. The present watercolour, a smaller version of this one and a third one not recorded in Lister. A smaller version of the present watercolour known as Italian Dawn was one of a group of watercolours presented to the amateur artist and law reformer Edwin Williams Field (R. Lister , op. cit 1988, p. 195, no. 610); in this the poplars are less feathery and the herdsman's hat has a broader rim. The third version unrecorded by Lister, is in the Morgan Library and Museum, New York (Barker, op. cit., p. 220). These watercolours are based on a sketch in brown wash and squared for transfer, in the British Museum, and according to Lister, considerably earlier, circa 1835-6 (Lister, op.cit., 1988, pp. 109-10, no. 237; inscribed by the artist's son A.H. Palmer Rising with the Lark and Ploughing with oxen).
All these upright versions have an Italian setting with poplar trees and the Appenines behind, seenby Palmer and his wife Hannah, née Linnell, on their honeymoon in Italy in 1837-9. The figures and landscape setting in the watercolours and the etching of 'The Early Ploughman' share a strong similarity. However, the present watercolour and first etching of 'The Weary Ploughman' are set at the end of the day, whereas the others are set in the early morning. Later Palmer was to continue with the same themes in his illustrations to Milton's Lycidas and L'Allegro, executed between about 1873 and 1881 (Lister, 1988, pp. 218-20, nos. M7-10, illustrated).
Besides the recurring theme that links these various works, certain patterns and types recur, such as the figure pulling the head of one of the oxen that goes back to Palmer's sepia drawing A Rustic Scene, of 1829, already repeated in softened form in Young Man yoking an Ox circa 1831-2 (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum; Lister, 1988, pp. 49-50, 83 nos. 53, 136, illustrated; Vaughan, 2005, pp. 87-8, 147-8, nos. 10 and 74, illustrated).
Similarly Palmer retained his vision of the oxen from his Italian visit, during which, on about 20 August 1839, he wrote from Papignia, near Terni, to John, Mary Ann and Elizabeth Linnell and Linnell's eldest son Thomas:
'The Perugia oxen are said to be very fine - if so I shall have one harnessed in a plough with a man in proper action and draw it in different views - I have learn'd the general build of the animal which will be very useful. We stayed in Tivoli till we could get conveyance and I had first seen two oxen to draw' (Lister, 1974, I, p. 369).
The figure of a girl, behind on the right bears a pot on her head and is perhaps taken from an Antique gem. Palmer wrote to Miss Wilkinson on 29 May 1862 telling her that he had specially made cedar-wood boxes in which he kept casts from 'the finest antique gems'. These are most useful for reference, when working out lines caught from nature' (R. Lister, The Letters of Samuel Palmer, Oxford, 1974, II, p. 652). This may be the watercolour exhibited by Palmer at the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours in 1864 as The Early Ploughman. The artist's son A. H. Palmer adds 'Known also as 'Dawn' in his listings but the smaller version, Italian Dawn, had already been presented to Edwin William Field the year before (A.H. Palmer, The Life and Letters of Samuel Palmer, Painter and Etcher, London, 1892, p. 413).
The first of the is the etching of The Weary Ploughman or The Herdsman or Tardus Bubuleus; this shows a herdsman with his oxen returning home in an English setting. (Barker, op. cit., p. 216-9, nos. 139 a, b and c, illustrated). It was begun in 1858 and published in A Selection of Etchings by the Etching Club, 1865. Probably designed as a companion to this is The Early Ploughman or The Morning spread upon the Mountains, begun before Palmer moved from Kensington to Redhill in 1862; this shows a herdsman setting out at dawn in an Italian setting with poplars on the right (Barker, ibid pp. 219-20, no. 140, illustrated).
Palmer also treated the theme in upright format in three watercolours. The present watercolour, a smaller version of this one and a third one not recorded in Lister. A smaller version of the present watercolour known as Italian Dawn was one of a group of watercolours presented to the amateur artist and law reformer Edwin Williams Field (R. Lister , op. cit 1988, p. 195, no. 610); in this the poplars are less feathery and the herdsman's hat has a broader rim. The third version unrecorded by Lister, is in the Morgan Library and Museum, New York (Barker, op. cit., p. 220). These watercolours are based on a sketch in brown wash and squared for transfer, in the British Museum, and according to Lister, considerably earlier, circa 1835-6 (Lister, op.cit., 1988, pp. 109-10, no. 237; inscribed by the artist's son A.H. Palmer Rising with the Lark and Ploughing with oxen).
All these upright versions have an Italian setting with poplar trees and the Appenines behind, seenby Palmer and his wife Hannah, née Linnell, on their honeymoon in Italy in 1837-9. The figures and landscape setting in the watercolours and the etching of 'The Early Ploughman' share a strong similarity. However, the present watercolour and first etching of 'The Weary Ploughman' are set at the end of the day, whereas the others are set in the early morning. Later Palmer was to continue with the same themes in his illustrations to Milton's Lycidas and L'Allegro, executed between about 1873 and 1881 (Lister, 1988, pp. 218-20, nos. M7-10, illustrated).
Besides the recurring theme that links these various works, certain patterns and types recur, such as the figure pulling the head of one of the oxen that goes back to Palmer's sepia drawing A Rustic Scene, of 1829, already repeated in softened form in Young Man yoking an Ox circa 1831-2 (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum; Lister, 1988, pp. 49-50, 83 nos. 53, 136, illustrated; Vaughan, 2005, pp. 87-8, 147-8, nos. 10 and 74, illustrated).
Similarly Palmer retained his vision of the oxen from his Italian visit, during which, on about 20 August 1839, he wrote from Papignia, near Terni, to John, Mary Ann and Elizabeth Linnell and Linnell's eldest son Thomas:
'The Perugia oxen are said to be very fine - if so I shall have one harnessed in a plough with a man in proper action and draw it in different views - I have learn'd the general build of the animal which will be very useful. We stayed in Tivoli till we could get conveyance and I had first seen two oxen to draw' (Lister, 1974, I, p. 369).
The figure of a girl, behind on the right bears a pot on her head and is perhaps taken from an Antique gem. Palmer wrote to Miss Wilkinson on 29 May 1862 telling her that he had specially made cedar-wood boxes in which he kept casts from 'the finest antique gems'. These are most useful for reference, when working out lines caught from nature' (R. Lister, The Letters of Samuel Palmer, Oxford, 1974, II, p. 652). This may be the watercolour exhibited by Palmer at the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours in 1864 as The Early Ploughman. The artist's son A. H. Palmer adds 'Known also as 'Dawn' in his listings but the smaller version, Italian Dawn, had already been presented to Edwin William Field the year before (A.H. Palmer, The Life and Letters of Samuel Palmer, Painter and Etcher, London, 1892, p. 413).