拍品專文
Dating to circa 1850, this drawing was based on the sonnet by John Codrington Bampfylde (1754-96):
‘With footsteps slow, in furry pall yclad,
His brows enwreathed with holly never sere,
Old Christmas comes to close the wanèd year,
And aye the shepherd’s heart to make right glad;
Who, when his teeming flocks are homeward had,
To blazing hearth repairs, and nut-brown beer;
And views well pleased the ruddy prattlers dear
Hug the grey mongrel; meanwhile maid and lad
Squabble for roasted crabs’ [apples].
The composition recalls several details of William Blake’s wood engravings for Pastorals for Virgil, including the pose of the shepherd and a similar cottage with attached sheep-pen from Blake’s illustration XVII.
‘With footsteps slow, in furry pall yclad,
His brows enwreathed with holly never sere,
Old Christmas comes to close the wanèd year,
And aye the shepherd’s heart to make right glad;
Who, when his teeming flocks are homeward had,
To blazing hearth repairs, and nut-brown beer;
And views well pleased the ruddy prattlers dear
Hug the grey mongrel; meanwhile maid and lad
Squabble for roasted crabs’ [apples].
The composition recalls several details of William Blake’s wood engravings for Pastorals for Virgil, including the pose of the shepherd and a similar cottage with attached sheep-pen from Blake’s illustration XVII.