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David Cox, 1783–1859, British, Going to the Hayfield, early 1850s

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Creator:

David Cox, 1783–1859

Title:

Going to the Hayfield

Date:

early 1850s

Medium:

Watercolor, graphite, black chalk and scratching out on thick, rough, cream wove paper

Dimensions:

Mount: 16 × 22 1/2 inches (40.6 × 57.2 cm), Contemporary drawn border: 12 7/8 × 18 1/8 inches (32.7 × 46 cm), Sheet: 12 5/8 × 17 15/16 inches (32.1 × 45.6 cm)

Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Inscribed on verso in graphite, center: "M board | 1/4" FM | Total margins 3" x 3 1/2"

Signed in graphite, lower right:: "[..]

Credit Line:

Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection

Copyright Status:

Public Domain

Accession Number:

B1977.14.133

Classification:

Drawings & Watercolors

Collection:

Prints and Drawings

Subject Terms:

Access:

Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
Note: The Study Room is open by appointment. Please visit the Study Room page on our website for more details.

Link:

https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:8271

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In the catalogue of the David Cox exhibition in Liverpool in 1875, this watercolor is described as unfinished and dated 1856. When it was shown in the big David Cox exhibition in Birmingham in 1890, the catalogue referred to it as "a rough, unfinished work," dated 1853. Rather than being unfinished, it would seem to belong to a group of watercolors from the late 1840s and early 1850s in which Cox, aiming to satisfy himself and a group of knowledgeable and sympathetic friends - if not a broader public - put aside notions of conventional finish. Taking up one of his favorite compositional types, he has treated all its standard elements - the mounted figure leading a second, rider less horse into the flat landscape, the pool of water at the hayfield's edge, and the activity around a distant haystack - with great freedom and economy. Most impressive is the sweep of the cloud-filled sky, achieved with a vigorous but marvelously controlled touch.

Scott Wilcox, Sun, wind, and rain : the art of David Cox, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2008, pg. 217 cat. no. 97, NJ18 .C829 W542 + Oversize (YCBA)

British Watercolors - Drawings of the 18th and 19th Centuries from the Yale Center for British Art (Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston, 1985-04 - 1986-08) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

British Watercolors - Drawings of the 18th and 19th Centuries from the Yale Center for British Art (Block Museum of Art, 1985-04 - 1986-08) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

British Watercolors - Drawings of the 18th and 19th Centuries from the Yale Center for British Art (Toledo Museum of Art, 1985-04 - 1986-08) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

British Watercolors - Drawings of the 18th and 19th Centuries from the Yale Center for British Art (Portland Art Museum, 1985-04 - 1986-08) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

British Watercolors - Drawings of the 18th and 19th Centuries from the Yale Center for British Art (Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1985-04 - 1986-08) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

British Watercolors - Drawings of the 18th and 19th Centuries from the Yale Center for British Art (Memorial Art Gallery of Rochester, 1985-04 - 1986-08) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

British Watercolors - Drawings of the 18th and 19th Centuries from the Yale Center for British Art (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 1985-04 - 1986-08) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Sun, Wind, and Rain - The Art of David Cox (Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, 2009-01-31 - 2009-05-03) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Sun, Wind, and Rain - The Art of David Cox (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-10-16 - 2009-01-04) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Scott Wilcox, British watercolors, drawings of the 18th and 19th centuries from the Yale Center for British Art , Hudson Hill Press, New York, 1985, no. 69, pl. 69, ND1928 W533 1985 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Scott Wilcox, Sun, wind, and rain : the art of David Cox, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2008, pp. 48, 60, 94, 208, 216-7, no. 97, NJ18 .C829 W542 + Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

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