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Edward Penny, 1714–1791

Widow Costard's cow and goods, distrained for taxes, are redeemed by the generosity of Johnny Pearmain

1782

Edward Penny exhibited this picture at the Royal Academy in 1782. A genre picture with a moral about practical charity, it represents Johnny Pearmain, the scion of a Shropshire family, paying off a widow’s debts at the eleventh hour. Bailiffs have already begun driving away her cow, her sole means of subsistence, and are preparing to take possession of her cottage to render her homeless. Penny made a reputation with these small, moralizing pictures, scaled to modest domestic interiors, which reflect the changing market for art that emerged with the advent of public exhibitions in the 1760s.

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016

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Edward Penny, 1714–1791, British, Widow Costard's cow and goods, distrained for taxes, are redeemed by the generosity of Johnny Pearmain, 1782, Oil on canvas, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, B1981.25.498.
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Edward Penny exhibited this picture at the Royal Academy in 1782. A genre picture with a moral about practical charity, it represents Johnny Pearmain, the scion of a Shropshire family, paying off a widow’s debts at the eleventh hour. Bailiffs have already begun driving away her cow, her sole means of subsistence, and are preparing to take possession of her cottage to render her homeless. Penny made a reputation with these small, moralizing pictures, scaled to modest domestic interiors, which reflect the changing market for art that emerged with the advent of public exhibitions in the 1760s.

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016
Edward Penny exhibited this picture at the Royal Academy in 1782. A genre picture with a moral about practical charity, it represents Johnny Pearmain, the scion of a Shropshire family, paying off a widow’s debts at the eleventh hour. Bailiffs have already begun driving away her cow, her sole means of subsistence, and are preparing to take possession of her cottage to render her homeless. Penny made a reputation with these small, moralizing pictures, scaled to modest domestic interiors, which reflect the changing market for art that emerged with the advent of public exhibitions in the 1760s.

' Art on the Line ' : the Royal Academy Exhibitions at Somerset House 1780-1836 (The Courtauld Gallery, 2001-10-17 - 2002-01-20) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Art on the line : the Royal Academy exhibitions at Somerset House, 1780-1836 : [catalogue of works], , The Courtauld Gallery, London, 2001, no. 47, V 0909 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 178-179, N590.2 .A83 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Exhibition Catalogue. 1782. 14th., Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, no. 14, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1782, p. 4, no. 30, N5054 A53 14-28 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Painting in England 1700-1850 : collection of Mr. & Mrs. Paul Mellon : Exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, , , Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, 1963, p. 130 (v.1), no. 246, pl. 148, ND466 V57 v.1-2 (YCBA) [YCBA]

David H. Solkin, Art on the Line : the Royal Academy Exhibitions at Somerset House 1780-1836, , Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2001, Foldout No 31, N5054 A78 2001B (YCBA) [YCBA]

The First hundred years of the Royal Academy, 1769-1868 : Winter exhibition, 1951-52, , Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1951, p. 60, no. 117, N5054 .A545 1951/52 (YCBA) [YCBA]

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