Place of Origin
Great Britain, UK (probably, painted)
Date
1869 (painted)
Artist/maker
Richard Redgrave, born 1804 - died 1888 (artist)
Materials and Techniques
oil on panel
Marks and inscriptions
'Richd Redgrave 1869'
Dimensions
Height: 21.6 cm estimate, Width: 34.9 cm estimate
Object history note
Purchased, 1885
Descriptive line
Oil painting, 'Sweet Summer Time', Richard Redgrave, 1869
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860, Ronald Parkinson, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1990, pp. 245-46
This is the full text of the catalogue entry:
"REDGRAVE, Richard, CB, RA (1804-1888)
Born Pimlico, London, 30 April 1804, the son of an engineer and manufacturer, in whose office he first worked as draughtsman and designer. Entered RA Schools 1826. Worked as a drawing master in the 1830s. Exhibited 141 works at the RA between 1825 and 1883, 17 at the BI 1832-59, and 20 (including four watercolours) at the SBA 1829-35 and 1870-9. Early works were landscapes and costume pieces, mainly l8thcentury and in the manner of C R Leslie; from the 1840s he specialised in modem genre and social comment, before returning to landscape, particularly around his home in Abinger, Surrey, relieving the pressure of his administrative duties. Elected ARA 1840, RA 1851; Secretary of the Etching Club 1837-42. In 1847 he began his official career in art education as Master at the Government School of Design, becoming Head Master in 1848, Art Superintendent 1852, Inspector General 1857, and Director 1874. He was Inspector of the Queen's Pictures, compiling a catalogue of the Royal Collection, 1857-79. As he wrote in 1856: 'I regret to find that I am so identified with office work that it is almost forgotten that I am a painter'
(F M Redgrave Richard Redgrave: A Memoir. . . p l 71 ). He published An Elementary Manual of Colourr ... (1853), The Sheepshanks Gallery (1870), and, most famously, with his brother Samuel, A Century of Painters of the English School ... (2 vols, 1866). He was offered a Knighthood in 1869, which he declined; created Companion of the Bath 1880. Died Kensington, London, 14 December 1888. His daughters Frances (who compiled the Memoir of her father) and Evelyn were also exhibiting artists.
LIT: Art Journal 1850, pp48-9 (referred to below as the 'autobiography'), with engr portrait; Art JournaI1859, p206; Athenaeum 22 December 1888, pp854-5 (obit); F M Redgrave Richard Redgrave, CB, RA: A Memoir compiled from his diary 1891 (referred to below as Memoir); F G Stephens in Magazine of Art XV, 1891-2, pp26-9; ed S Casteras and R Parkinson Richard Redgrave 1804-1888 1988, V &A and Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, USA, exhibition catalogue
Sweet Summer Time
232-1885 Neg Z155
Panel, 21.6 X 34.9 cm (8½ X 13¾ ins)
Signed and dated 'Richd Redgrave 1869' bl
The location is recorded as Wotton Meadows, very near Redgrave's home in Abinger, Surrey. The workers on the left are erecting hurdles for the sheep, while an ?artist watches on the right.
PROV: George Clark of Sunderland; his sale, Christie's 25 July 1885 (146), bought by the museum £21
EXH: Victorian Paintings Arts Council 1962 (55); Richard Redgrave 1804-1888 V&A and Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1988 (116)
LIT: Casteras and Parkinson pp141-2 (repr)
Ronald Parkinson."
Materials
Oil paint; Panel
Techniques
Oil painting
Subjects depicted
Landscape; Sheep
Categories
Paintings
Collection code
PDP
