Samuel PalmerThe Harvest Moon: Drawing for 'A Pastoral Scene' c.1831-2

This work is a study for a A Pastoral Scene, 1835, a work in oil and tempera, now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Typical of this period in Palmer's oeuvre, it represents a pastoral landscape: a shepherd and shepherdess tend their flock of sheep in the foreground, while harvesters gather up the glowing ripe corn in the fields and a crescent moon rises in the distance. The composition combines elements from the landscape around Shoreham, where Palmer was living, and the craggy shoreline of North Devon, which he had visited in 1834. The Devon scenery made an important impact on him, and, as his son, A.H… (read more)