Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1981.25.356
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Subject Terms:
river | landscape | piles | water | lovers | men | peasants | child | house | woman | cottage | women | farm | hay
Currently On View:
Not on view
Exhibition History:
Love, Life, Death, and Desire: An Installation of the Center's Collections (Yale Center for British Art, 2020-10-01 - 2021-02-28)William Hogarth - A Selection of Painting from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon (National Gallery of Art, 1971-02-12 - 1971-05-30)Painting in England 1700-1850 - From The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon (Yale University Art Gallery, 1965-04-15 - 1965-06-20)
Publications:
Ronald Brymer Beckett, Hogarth, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1949, pl. 202, NJ18 H67 B43 1949Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 138-139, N590.2 A83 (YCBA)John T. Hayes, English Painting and the Rococo, Apollo, vol. 90, n0. 90, August 1969, pp.120,122, fig. 12, N1 A54 + (YCBA)Luke Herrmann, The Paul Mellon Collection at Burlington House, Connoisseur, vol. 157, December 1964, pp. 211, 212, fig. 2, N1 C75 + OVERSIZE (YCBA)Penelope McElwee, The non-representation of the agricultural labourers in 18th and 19th century English paintings : an exploration into the artistic conventions followed by the aristocracy and landowning classes in representations of the agricultural labourers ..., Newcastle upon Tyne, 2016, pp. 32-33, fig. 2-3, NX650.L32 M34 2016 (YCBA)Painting in England 1700-1850 : collection of Mr. & Mrs. Paul Mellon : Exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, , 1,2, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, 1963, p. 41 (v.1), no. 10, pl. 118, ND466 V57 v.1-2 (YCBA)Painting in England 1700-1850 from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, The Royal Academy of Arts Winter Exhibition 1964-65., , Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK, 1964, p. 6 (v.1), no. 16, ND466 R68 1964/65 (YCBA)Yale University Art Gallery, Painting in England, 1700-1850, from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon : [exhibition at] Yale University Art Gallery, April 15-June 20, 1965, , vol. 1, W. Clowes and sons, New Haven, 1965, pp. 33-4, no. 118, ND466 Y35 (YCBA)
Gallery Label:
Painted before England’s agricultural revolution changed farming practices forever from the mid-eighteenth century, this bucolic scene depicts the sentimental ideal of healthy and contented laborers engaged in their summer work, mowing the grass to make hay. As some of the figures continue to toil, others enjoy fleeting indulgences while taking a break: one man rests behind a haystack raising a drink to his lips, and an amorous couple’s stolen moment of passion is interrupted by the teasing of fellow workers. They control their own labor and manage their own time. Women were central to the preindustrial labor force, and haymaking and harvest were long associated with lovemaking and celebrations of the fertility of nature. Gallery label for Love, Life, Death, and Desire: An Installation of the Center's Collections (Yale Center for British Art, 2020-11-01 – 2021-02-28)