A village scene: the Vendage

The present drawing depicts an early autumn scene in a French village, and is clearly based on studies made before the artist arrived in England. The composition suggests that it might have been intended as one of four 'seasons', to be engraved as a set. Like many of Grimm's later English town and streetscapes, it is packed with detail and incident.

The somewhat theatrical construction of this large drawing may be compared with the artist's view of Dieppe (Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne) which was executed in 1770, two years after Grimm arrived in London. The size of the present sheet is the same as Haymakers in a Village, now in the British Museum.