Possibly "A Cornfield" exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1815 (W Whitley "Art in England 1800-1820", 1928, p.245, states without evidence that it was). De Wint also exhibited a smaller picture with the same title at the British Institution in 1816. Harvesting scenes were a favourite subject with the artist early in his career, and particularly the panoramic view (compare the watercolour "Cornfield with Harvesters" also in the V&A (museum number 1201-1886) and also the oil painting "Haymaking" (museum number 260-1872).

Exhibition Label downloaded from Elise - author unknown:
"In a nation such as England, even after the Industrial Revolution, the autumn harvest was symbolically as well as in practical terms the most important event in the agricultural year . De Wint painted many panoramic views of corn and hay fields, usually at the time of greatest activity when the crops are being gathered in and the extent of the coming year's prosperity is being assessed. Better known as a master of watercolour - and he is represented as such in this exhibition - De Wint achieves the same luminescence in his paintings in oils. Without doubt, he 'romanticizes' his scenes of hard labour in the countryside. Harvesting can never have been as idyllic an experience as he suggests here. But for an urban audience and metropolitan collectors of landscape paintings, this image of England as a rich and fertile Arcadia was irresistible.