The Harvest Moon

Place of Origin

England, Great Britain (painted)

Date

1855 (painted)

Artist/maker

John Linnell, born 1792 - died 1882 (artist)

Materials and Techniques

Oil on canvas

Marks and inscriptions

'J Linnell f 1855'

Dimensions

Height: 66 cm estimate, Width: 99 cm estimate, Height: 100 cm framed, Width: 132 cm framed

Object history note

Bequeathed by John Jones, 1882

Descriptive line

Oil painting, 'The Harvest Moon', John Linnell, 1855
[Frame dimensions 102 x 132 cm]

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860, Ronald Parkinson, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1990, pp. 178-79
The following is the full text of the entry:

"Born Bloomsbury, London, 16 June 1792, son of a printseller and framemaker. Copied works by George Morland, and studied watercolour painting with John Varley. Entered RA Schools 1805. Associated with William Henry Hunt, William Mulready, Dr Thomas Monro, and later William Blake. In a long and prolific career, he exhibited 176 works at the RA between 1807 and 1881, 91 at the BI 1808-59, and 52 watercolours at the OWS (Member 1812, Treasurer 1817). Subjects mainly portraits up to the late 1840s, then landscapes. Worked also in engraving, etching and mezzotint. Surprisingly, he submitted his name unsuccessfully for election to ARA 1821, and withdrew 1842; the RA later offered him membership, which he refused. Died Redhill, Surrey, 20 January 1882; a memorial exhibition was held at the RA 1882-3. Three of his sons (James Thomas, William, and John junior) were also artists, and his daughter married Samuel Palmer.
LIT: Redgrave Cent; Art]oumal1882, p262 (obit); A T Story Life ofJohn Linnell 2 vols, 1892

The Harvest Moon
554-1882 Neg 22217
Canvas, 66 × 99 cm (26 × 39 ins)
Signed and dated 'J Linnell f 1855' br of centre
Jones Bequest 1882
Linnell's journal records work on this picture in 1852 and 1853; in September 1853 he was retouching it for the dealer William Wethered, who collected it on 6 October. He sold it to the collector Louis Huth, who had the figures retouched in November and the picture varnished 17 December. It seems that Linnell worked on the painting on at least one further occasion, and this presumably accounts for the date of 1855 that it bears.
Story lists the work as 'Painted for Mr. Weathered. Sold by Rought [also a dealer] to Mr. Louis Huth for 400 guineas [£420]'. Huth presumably sold the work directly to John J ones.
There is a small (37.8 × 46.1 cm/14 7/8 × 18 1/8 ins) version on panel dated 1858 in the Tate Gallery; a letter from Huth to Linnell 27 May 1856 indicates he might like to have 'the repetition of the subject on the smaller size as mentioned by you with one or two alterations which constitute my only objection to the bigger one'. The Tate version differs principally in the poses of the foreground figure and his dog and the nearest figure working in the field above the dog is omitted. A note in Linnell's journal for 30 September 1856 records that 'Mr. Colls [a dealer] came to see Harvest Moon'; this could be either the present work or the Tate version.
Mary-Anne Stevens, in the 1972 Paris exhibition catalogue, commented on the importance of the quality of light and the work of the gleaners which recall Samuel Palmer's Shoreham period.
EXH: La Peinture Romantique Anglaise … Petit Palais, Paris, 1972 (165)
LIT: Story II, p273
REPR: Victorian Paintings V&A small picture book 10, 1963, pl 27

Ronald Parkinson"
Vikutoria & Arub?to Bijutsukan-z? : eikoku romanshugi kaigaten = The Romantic tradition in British painting, 1800-1950 : masterpieces from the Victoria and Albert Museum / selected by Mark Evans [Japan : Brain Trust], 2002. 185 p. : ill. (chiefly col.) ; 30 cm.

Exhibition History

The Romantic Tradition in British Painting 1800-1950: Masterpieces from the Victoria and Albert Museum (Prefectural Museum of Art, Hyogo, Kobe, Japan 28/01/2003-06/04/2003)
The Romantic Tradition in British Painting 1800-1950: Masterpieces from the Victoria and Albert Museum (Koriyama City Museum of Art 22/11/2002-27/12/2002)
The Romantic Tradition in British Painting 1800-1950: Masterpieces from the Victoria and Albert Museum (Matsuzakaya Museum, Nagoya, Japan 19/10/2002-11/11/2002)
The Romantic Tradition in British Painting 1800-1950: Masterpieces from the Victoria and Albert Museum (Chiba Prefectural Museum of Art, Japan 24/08/2002-06/10/2002)

Labels and date

48. John Linnell (1792-1882)
The Harvest Moon 1855
Oil on canvas, 66 x 99 cm (26 x 39 ins)

The importance of the harvest was formerly apparent to everyone, as a scanty harvest could cause near-starvation and unrest. A good harvest was consequently a symbol of peace and plenty. Linnell, associated with both William Blake and Samuel Palmer (his son-in-law), excelled in the depiction of this part of the agricultural year. He here adds a new dimension to the conventional image of the harvest. Linnell invests his scene at the end of a late summer's day, the sun and the moon in the sky together, with a spiritual, even mystical, fervour. The fecundity of the crop (there are fields and harvesters as far as the eye can see) is emphasised by the families in the foreground - men, women and children - slowly making their way home.

Given by John Jones, 1882 (554-1882) [2002]

Materials

Oil paint; Canvas

Techniques

Oil painting

Subjects depicted

Landscape; Agriculture

Categories

Paintings

Collection code

PDP