Samuel Palmer

The Weary Ploughman

1858

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment
Artist
Samuel Palmer 1805–1881
Medium
Etching on paper
Dimensions
Image: 133 x 203 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Presented by Herbert Linnell 1924
Reference
N03868

Display caption

Palmer's fellow Ancients Edward Calvert and George Richmond made a number of prints during the Shoreham period. But Palmer made only one, now very rare, wood-engraving at that time. In the 1850s, however, he took up etching, and produced a sequence of prints in which he recaptured some of the intensity of his visionary Shoreham years. Many of them are twilight or dawn scenes, combining memories of Shoreham with those of his later visit to Italy and his admiration for Claude. Palmer began this plate in May 1858, and etched it in six weeks, reworking it several times. Its alternative title, 'The Herdsman', may be more apt, since ploughing would not usually take place during the same month, May, that horse-chestnuts are in blossom.

Gallery label, August 2004

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