Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
British Galleries, Room 122

The Wildflower Gatherers

Oil Painting
1831 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Object Type
Oil paintings with sentimental scenes of children in the countryside became popular with collectors such as John Sheepshanks and the Reverend Chauncy Hare Townshend, as well as with the Victorian public in general.

People
John Linnell (1792-1882) was the son of a printseller and framemaker who became a prolific artist and printmaker. He exhibited many works at the Royal Academy, the British Institution and the Old Watercolour Society. He was associated with other famous artists of his day, including William Henry Hunt, William Mulready, Dr Thomas Munro and later, William Blake. His views of landscape and of children are much more idiosyncratic than the average Victorian painter and reflect a more intense and romantic view of nature.

Subjects Depicted
One of the most consistently attractive subjects for paintings and prints during the reign of Queen Victoria was that of children, usually at play, in the idyllic setting of the countryside. These sentimental scenes were in part catering for nostalgia felt by many who had spent their childhood in the countryside, but had been forced to leave it. As the century progressed, the majority of the population began to move to towns and cities filled with raw new buildings, the streets polluted with coal smoke and without wild flowers. Linnell's painting depicts an even more distant image for modern viewers, as flower-rich meadows have become increasingly rare in Britain and modern herbicides ensure that there are no weeds (wildflowers) in commercial cereal growing.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleThe Wildflower Gatherers (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Oil on panel
Brief description
Oil painting entitled 'The Wild Flower Gatherers' by John Linnell. Great Britain, 1831.
Physical description
Oil painting entitled 'The Wild Flower Gatherers', depicting a group of children seated in a field. Dated 1831.
Dimensions
  • Height: 15.8cm
  • Width: 20.9cm
  • Depth: 5cm
  • Framed height: 32cm
  • Framed width: 36.5cm
Dimensions checked: Measured; 20/01/1999 by sf
Style
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'J Linnell 1831' (Signed and dated by the artist, lower right)
  • '1834' (Inscribed on back)
Gallery label
British Galleries: John Linnell's affectionate scene of children gathering flowers is exactly the kind of painting that was described by museum administrator Richard Redgrave as 'a home delight' and a subject 'such as we can live by and love'. The small scale and simplicity were qualities he admired in paintings by living artists.(27/03/2003)
Credit line
Given by John Sheepshanks, 1857
Object history
Given by John Sheepshanks, 1857. By John Linnell (born in London, 1792, died in Redhill, Surrey, 1882)

Exhibited at the British Institution 1831
Subjects depicted
Summary
Object Type
Oil paintings with sentimental scenes of children in the countryside became popular with collectors such as John Sheepshanks and the Reverend Chauncy Hare Townshend, as well as with the Victorian public in general.

People
John Linnell (1792-1882) was the son of a printseller and framemaker who became a prolific artist and printmaker. He exhibited many works at the Royal Academy, the British Institution and the Old Watercolour Society. He was associated with other famous artists of his day, including William Henry Hunt, William Mulready, Dr Thomas Munro and later, William Blake. His views of landscape and of children are much more idiosyncratic than the average Victorian painter and reflect a more intense and romantic view of nature.

Subjects Depicted
One of the most consistently attractive subjects for paintings and prints during the reign of Queen Victoria was that of children, usually at play, in the idyllic setting of the countryside. These sentimental scenes were in part catering for nostalgia felt by many who had spent their childhood in the countryside, but had been forced to leave it. As the century progressed, the majority of the population began to move to towns and cities filled with raw new buildings, the streets polluted with coal smoke and without wild flowers. Linnell's painting depicts an even more distant image for modern viewers, as flower-rich meadows have become increasingly rare in Britain and modern herbicides ensure that there are no weeds (wildflowers) in commercial cereal growing.
Associated object
Bibliographic reference
Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860, Ronald Parkinson, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1990, p. 177
Collection
Accession number
FA.133[O]

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Record createdFebruary 27, 2001
Record URL
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