James Ward

Beef

c.1805–15

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Not on display
Artist
James Ward 1769–1859
Medium
Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions
Support: 441 x 318 mm
frame: 600 x 500 x 72 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Purchased 1942
Reference
N05318

Display caption

James Ward was considered to be the greatest animal painter of his day, working with the publisher Boydell on an uncompleted record of the livestock breeds of Britain around 1800. His Gordale Scar (1812?-1814), a vast canvas in the Tate collection, shows a sublime and stormy Yorkshire landscape with a proud white bull apparently protecting his primeval domain. Painted during the Napoleonic Wars it undoubtedly carries a strong patriotic message. This painting of two hanging sides of beef from the same period, while being a Rembrandtesque exercise in the handling of paint, may well have similar connotations. Indeed the heavy 'painterly' quality to the work would have been seen at the time as a particularly British aesthetic trait.

Gallery label, August 2004

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James Ward, ‘Gordale Scar (A View of Gordale, in the Manor of East Malham in Craven, Yorkshire, the Property of Lord Ribblesdale)’ ?1812–4, exhibited 1815

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James Ward, ‘A Spaniel Frightening Ducks’ 1821

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James Ward, ‘Portraits of Blackthorn, a Broodmare, with Old Jack, a Favourite Pony, the Property of E. Mundy, Esq.’ 1812

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1812
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James Ward, ‘The Black Horse’ 1824

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1824
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James Ward, ‘Sketch for ‘Gordale Scar’’ 1811

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1811
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date not known
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James Ward, ‘View in Tabley Park’ 1813–8

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1813–8
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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Ploughing Up Turnips, near Slough (‘Windsor’)’ exhibited 1809

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James Ward, ‘Sketch for ‘Gordale Scar’’ c.1811

James Ward Sketch for ‘Gordale Scar’

c.1811
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James Ward, ‘The Moment’ 1831

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1831
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Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘Entrance of the Meuse: Orange-Merchant on the Bar, Going to Pieces; Brill Church bearing S. E. by S., Masensluys E. by S.’ exhibited 1819

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exhibited 1819
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James Ward, ‘The Deer Stealer’ exhibited 1823

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