Making Hay

'He takes us away from the world of bare unrelated fact into regions where the human consciousness can beat its wings and feel glad.'

A.J. Finberg's assessment in 1906 of the work of David Cox OWS surely sums up the greatest achievement of great art. This bravura and atmospheric late work by the artist, dating from 1850, exemplifies the invigorating transcendence of his final period, displaying the bold freedom of technique on which his reputation as one of the greatest landscape painters of the first half of the 19th century rests.

Cox painted numerous haymaking subjects. An early work, c.1808 (Yale Centre for British Art—image 2), which shares the motif of the central haywain on the horizon with the present painting, shows the artist's longstanding connection with the subject. Between painted 1843 and 1853 he painted numerous compositions with the title 'Going to the Hayfield' (images 3 and 4). This was no doubt influenced by the work of his English contemporary Peter De Wint (1784–1849) who specialised in pre-industrial harvesting scenes (image 5).

Like so many of his paintings, such compositions were often inspired by Cox's regular tours of Wales, such as views near Conway, on Snowdon, and in the Welsh mountains (images 5–7).

VIEW IMAGE 1: David Cox OWS, Haymaking – 1850 watercolour painting (STOCK NUMBER: KE-235).
Image 2: Haymaking, c.1808, Yale Centre for British Art;
Image 3: Going to the Hayfield, 1853 (Yale Centre for British Art);
Image 4: Going to the Hayfield, early 1850s (Yale Centre for British Art);
Image 5: Peter de Wint OWS, A Hayfield in Yorkshire (Tate);
Image 6: Haymaking, Welsh Mountains, 1848 (V&A);
Image 7: Haymaking on Snowdon, 1847 (Towneley Hall Art Gallery & Museum)