Oil painting for an inn's sign board in Norwich entitled 'The Wherryman' by John Crome. Great Britain, ca. 1783-1792.

Figure in the centre foreground wearing the dress of a boatman or wherryman. He points to a wherry, which is shown sailing on the Norfolk Broads behind him, with his right hand.

Discovered in an antique shop in Norwich in 1928 by Mr. L. R. Nightingale, of the Paston House Art Galleries, Elm Hill. Offered for sale, Sotheby's November 5 1935, lot (no. unknown); exhibited in 'Exhibition of Inn Signs', The Building Centre, 158 New Bond Street, October-November 1936; brought by Squadron-Leader Rea in 1936; from whom purchased 9 May 1938 @ £20.0.0.

Historical significance: The son of a journeyman and weaver, John Crome (1768-1821) worked as a painter, printmaker and teacher. He was apprenticed to the coach sign painter Francis Whistler from 1783 to 1790. He presumably continued in this trade during the 1790s whilst he was consolidating his artistic training. Early influences on Crome came from the local artists William Beechey and John Opie. Crome also benefited from his friendship with the collector and amateur artist Thomas Harvey. Harvey’s collection included works by Dutch seventeenth century masters including Jacob van Ruisdael (1628-1682), Meindert Hobbema (1638-1707) and Aelbert Cuyp (1620-1691), as well as eighteenth century British artists Richard Wilson (1713-1782) and Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788). Exposure to these works through Harvey was to have a significant effect on the landscapes of John Crome. From 1792 Crome is documented working as an artist and also as a drawing master to the wives and daughters of local gentry.Whilst teaching drawing to the local gentry, Crome also took artists as pupils. His most famous pupils were James Stark and George Vincent. He was one of the founders of the Norwich Society of Artists in 1803 and worked predominantly in East Anglia. In 1802 he accompanied members of the Gurney family of Earlham Hall, Norwich, who were his pupils, on a tour of the Lake District. He only travelled abroad once, in 1814, to see the art collections brought to Paris by Napoleon. Establishing the chronology of Crome’s oeuvre is difficult as he did not sign his paintings. His work is often confused with that of his eldest son, John Berney Crome (1794-1842). Although often criticised during his lifetime for the “unfinished” quality of his works, within a week of his death people were reported as being desperate to acquire the artist’s paintings. This resulted in a high number of works by his followers and imitators being made during the nineteenth century.

The figure of a Wherryman can be seen in the foreground of this painting. He wears a red cap, short blue jacket, white shirt with a black neckerchief, and light brown trousers. His left arm rests on his hips whilst he gestures with his right to a wherry which is shown sailing down the broads in the distant landscape. A wherry is a type of boat that was used for transporting cargo and passengers along the canals of England. By the eighteenth century a “Norfolk Wherry” was the name given to the boat that had been developed to replace the earlier “Norfolk Keel”. It’s shape was distinctive with the large sails that can be seen in the Wherry that this figure points to as well as that of the boat in the distance. These boats were a common part of the landscape of the flat Norfolk Broads, which Crome has represented in the background of this painting, and appear frequently in works from the Norwich School. There is no evidence that this sign was painted for an inn called “The Wherryman”. However, considering the iconography of the figure in and the locality of the theme to Norwich and Norfolk, it seems likely that it was painted for an inn of this name.

The figure in the sign is painted in a naive manner, following the style of British folk art of the period. This style of painting supports the theory that the sign is an example of Crome’s early work. Although still quite crudely painted the artist’s interest in representing the typical East Anglian landscape in the background of the work anticipates his mature paintings and the work of the Norwich School.

This is one of a number of examples of inn signs painted by Crome at the beginning of his career (for other examples see Dickes Norwich School of Painting pp.20 and 21). Other examples of signs by Crome include “The Two Brewer”; “The Guardian Angel”; and “The Sawyers”. Crome was apprenticed to the sign and coach painter Francis Whistler from 1783-1790. It is likely that Crome painted this sign either during or immediately after his apprenticeship and before he became a drawing master to supplement his career as a landscape artist in 1792.

Reference: Dickes W. F., The Norwich School of Painting, London, 1905, pp.20 and 21.

This object has significance as an early work by Crome, as well as curiosity value due to its function as an inn sign and as an example of commercial or trade painting work of this period.

The Norwich School is a name applied to a group of Landscape painters working in the early nineteenth century who were associated with the Norwich Society of Fine Arts, established by John Crome (1768-1821) in 1803. The society was founded with the intention of "an Enquiry into the Rise, Progress and present state of Painting, Architecture and Sculpture, with a view to point out the Best Methods of Study to attain the Greater Perfection in these Arts." It included both professional and amateur artists. The society held exhibitions annually in Norwich from 1805-1825 and then from 1828-1833. The Norwich School was the first self-sustaining provincial artistic community in Britain. Its evolution was due to the relative insularity of both Norfolk merchants and gentry, who provided patronage through purchasing works as wells as employing many of the artists associated with the Norwich School as drawing masters for their wives and daughters. The artistic style of each artist within the Norwich School is often very different. For example the work of the two main figures in the Norwich School, John Crome (1768-1821) and John Sell Cotman (1782-1842) are very different. Crome's paintings, mainly produced in oil, reflect the influence of the Dutch seventeenth-century landscapes, whilst Cotman employs a more elegant topographical approach, often through the medium of watercolour. The Norwich School artists were united through their depiction of local landscape rather than the employment of a particular style. Crome was perhaps one of the most influential members of the school. This can be seen particularly in the work of his pupils George Vincent (1796-1832) and James Stark (1794-1859).

P.14-1938