An English Merry-Making, a Hundred Years Ago thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

An English Merry-Making, a Hundred Years Ago

Oil Painting
ca. 1846 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

An oil painting showing a village celebration taking place in the shade of a large oak tree; people in eighteenth-century costume dance or stand chatting in groups and observing the dancers.


Object details

Category
Object type
TitleAn English Merry-Making, a Hundred Years Ago (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Oil on canvas
Brief description
Oil Painting, 'An English Merry-Making, a Hundred Years Ago', William Powell Frith RA, ca. 1846
Physical description
An oil painting showing a village celebration taking place in the shade of a large oak tree; people in eighteenth-century costume dance or stand chatting in groups and observing the dancers.
Dimensions
  • Estimate height: 24.1cm
  • Estimate width: 40.6cm
  • Height: 46.5cm (Frame dimensions)
  • Width: 61.5cm (Frame dimensions)
  • Depth: 7cm (Frame dimensions)
Dimensions taken from Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860, Ronald Parkinson, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1990
Styles
Credit line
Bequeathed by John Jones
Object history
Bequeathed by John Jones, 1882
Production
Presumably a preliminary sketch for the large picture exhibited at the RA in 1847. Six other versions are known.
Subjects depicted
Place depicted
Bibliographic references
  • Parkinson, R., Victoria and Albert Museum, Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860, London: HMSO, 1990, p. 99
  • p. 139 Richard Green and Jane Sellars, eds. William Powell Frith. The people’s painter. Bloomsbury, Philip Wilson Publishers, 2019.
Collection
Accession number
510-1882

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Record createdSeptember 21, 2006
Record URL
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