[nb-NO]Object number[nb-NO]
56/76
[nb-NO]Title[nb-NO]
Noon,
[nb-NO]Creator[nb-NO]
[nb-NO]Description[nb-NO]
This is a framed coloured print, from an engraving. It is entitled 'Noon', and depicts a tenant farmer on horseback overseeing labourers working with a horse-drawn plough. Thatched farm buildings can be seen in the background. The original painting was painted by J. F. Herring Snr., and the engraving was made by J. Harris + Son. The frame is black and gold.
[nb-NO]Physical description[nb-NO]
1 coloured print: black and gold frame with perspex
<DIV STYLE="text-align:Justify;font-family:Georgia;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:16;color:#000000;"><P><SPAN><SPAN>2. <B>?Noon?, an engraving based on a painting by John Frederick Herring (1795-1865)</B><P> A tenant farmer, on horseback, comes to inspect the ploughing. He is pointing as if to issue further instructions to his workers. It is an image loaded with meaning for it portrays a very definite product of the Victorian age - the upper middle-class tenant farmer.<P> Unlike those less prosperous tenant farmers who would often be found working alongside their labourers, here we see a detachment from manual labour that would come to symbolise this new type of wealthy farmer. Sitting on his horse, displaying the fine clothes and ample girth of good living, his life would not have been too dissimilar to that of the landowner from whom his land was rented. Riding around the farm on horseback supervising his workers would be the nearest this prosperous farmer would get to manual labour. In the winter months he might even join the squire in some recreational hunting and shooting on his land. In stark contrast, the farm labourers in this image are dressed in true working garb - smock-frock, necktie and tatty hat - and, as if to reinforce this contrast of work and leisure, they are manning a labour-intensive horse-drawn plough.<P> Yet, despite criticism from more traditional farming quarters who resented the new business acumen of these wealthy tenant farmers, their prosperity had enormous benefits for Victorian society as a whole. They were employers to many landless agricultural labourers; they provided business for local shops and craftsmen; they paid tithes to the church; and, because of their affluence, they could well afford to embrace the many new agricultural innovations that would mark the Victorian age.<P> 56/76</SPAN></SPAN></P></DIV>
[nb-NO]Archival history[nb-NO]
MERL 'Handwritten accession' form (Institute of Agricultural History) – 'Standard museum name: // Accession number: // Classification: // Negative number: // Acquisition method: // Acquired from, date: ... // Store: // Condition: // Recorder, date: // Description: 'Noon' // Coloured engraving of a rural scene showing men, horses and a plough. // Painted by J. F. Herring Snr. // Engraved by J. Harris (+ Son) // Black + gold frame. // Dimensions: 86.0cm wide x 65.0cm high // Associated information: MERL COL. SLIDE No. 3603 // COL. NEG. 60/14903// References:'
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[nb-NO]External document[nb-NO]
- L:\MERL\Objects\JISC 2012\60 series negatives\60_14971.tif - High resolution image
