James Turpin Hart, A Rustic Timepiece 1856
Display caption
This painting, exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1856, is typical of the sentimental view of rural life favoured by middle-class gallery visitors.
James Turpin Hart specialised in rustic and narrative scenes. Here, a group of country people are gathered by a stile; the little girl is blowing on a ‘dandelion clock’. According to tradition, the number of puffs it takes to blow away the downy heads will tell you what time it is. The implication is that simple country folk are quaintly ‘in touch with nature’.
September 2004
Other works of art you may be interested in
Find similar artworks
Artist
Category
Painting
(5,322)
Decade
1850-9
(402)
Subject
architecture
(30,435)
townscapes, man-made features
(18,966)
fence
(262)
leisure and pastimes
(3,120)
recreational activities
(1,042)
picking flowers
(27)
nature
(37,449)
objects
(12,243)
clothing and personal effects
(3,860)
apron
(63)
hat, bonnet
(200)
work and occupations
(5,206)
agriculture and fishing
(999)
farm labourer
(86)