Thomas Uwins

The Vintage in the Claret Vineyards of the South of France

1847–8, exhibited 1848

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Not on display

Artist: Thomas Uwins 1782–1857
Medium: Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions: Support: 787 × 1549 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Presented by Robert Vernon 1847
Reference: N00387

Display caption

Uwins first recognized the pictorial possibilities of harvesting while on a visit to the hop-fields of Farnham, Surrey, in 1811. His ambition to paint an important vineyard subject probably dates from this period. In 1817, after the Napoleonic Wars, he travelled to Bordeaux intent on painting the grape harvest. Living with the Cabareuss family in the claret country of the upper Medoc, he found the countryside 'detestable; it is literally a sea of vines extending every way to the horizon'. 'The Vintage', for which some of his 1817 sketches were used, was the result of a second visit in 1846. Vernon acquired the picture after its exhibition in 1848.

Gallery label, September 2004

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