Samuel Palmer

Watercolour and Gouache, with brown ink, varnished c1830
Size of original & reproduction 197 x 298 mm, 7.3/4 x 11.3/4 inches

From Palmer’s Shoreham period, when the visionary romanticism of his style was most intense. Moonlit scenes were a favourite subject of his, and this is one of the most beautiful.

A man wearing a farm-workers smock and carrying his staff walks with his dog through a field where the corn has been harvested and tied into sheaves to dry out. Most likely he is a shepherd returning home.

At this time, Palmer was one of a circle of artists who called themselves “the Ancients” and were greatly inspired by William Blake. He was living with his father very simply at Shoreham in the Kent countryside, and works such as this were produced for his own pleasure, with little expectation, or possibility, of being sold.

Though he later returned to London and produced more conventional works, the intensity and individual vision of his Shoreham period produced his best work.

This picture remained with Palmer until his death, and was later owned by Lord (Kenneth) Clark.

Size of reproduction:
197 x 298 mm, 7.3/4 x 11.3/4 inches

Print price:
£43    €65    $70

£ and € print prices include UK VAT at 17.5%. No UK VAT on Books.

© The Trustees of the British Museum 2006 PD 1985-4-1 Lister 117