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Robert Hannah, 1812–1909, British, Refreshing the Weary, ca. 1847
- Title:
Refreshing the Weary [1847, Royal Academy of Arts, London, exhibition catalogue]
- Date:
- ca. 1847
- Medium:
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions:
- 24 x 20 1/2 inches (61 x 52.1 cm)
- Credit Line:
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund
- Copyright Status:
- Public Domain
- Accession Number:
- B1993.8
- Classification:
- Paintings
- Collection:
- Paintings and Sculpture
- Link to Frame:
- B1993.8FR
- Subject Terms:
- apron (main garment) | arches | basket | bonnets | boy | breeches | children | city | columns | cup | drinking | fence | food | fruit | genre subject | girls | hat | lamppost | lamppost | men | petticoat | pitcher | shawl | shawls | steps | stockings | street | tankards | town | women
- Access:
- Not on view
Note: To make an appointment to see this work, please contact the Paintings and Sculpture department at ycba.paintings@yale.edu. Please visit the Paintings and Sculpture collections page on our website for more details. - Link:
- https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:1377
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The “weary” in Robert Hannah’s painting are new arrivals from the countryside, leaving behind their old life to seek work in London. The boy in the foreground still wears his country smock; the girl to his right, presumably his sister, is so thirsty she tries to drink from a drain. The grand water pump behind her is kept locked, reserved for the inhabitants of this fashionable square. A pot bearer from a nearby public house is the only one who comes to their aid. His hat reveals he is a former soldier now pensioned off. Having suffered hardship himself, this working-class Londoner is moved by the plight of these displaced rural laborers. The fact this scene takes place by an urban parish church implies a critique of its wealthy parishioners for failing in their Christian duty to offer charity to the poor. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016
Out to Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2022-03-11 - 2022-03-28) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]
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