The Rustic Lover - YCBA Collections Search

Francis Wheatley, 1747–1801, British, The Rustic Lover, 1786

Creator:: Francis Wheatley, 1747–1801
Title:: The Rustic Lover
Additional Title(s):: The Rustic Courtship
Date:: 1786
Materials & Techniques:: Watercolor with black ink over graphite on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper
Dimensions:: Sheet: 17 x 13 3/4 inches (43.2 x 34.9 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:: Signed and dated in black ink, lower right: "F. Wheatley delt. 1786"
Credit Line:: Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:: Public Domain
Accession Number:: B1977.14.6315
Classification:: Drawings & Watercolors
Collection:: Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:: apron | barrel | basket | bird | birdcage | bodice | bonnet | box (container) | bricks | buckles | buttons | cat (domestic cat) | chairs | cloth | coat | courtship | courtship | cupboard | distaff | door | genre subject | hat | hinges (fasteners) | interior (space) | laces | leaves | lover | lovers | man | milk | mug | nails | peasants | pot | ribbon | rooms | saucer | scissors | shirt | shoelaces | shoes (footwear) | skirt | spinning wheels | stockings | table | thread | window | woman
Access:: Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
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Link:: https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:15332
Export:: XML
IIIF Manifest:: JSON

This composition was one of many peasant scenes, injected with a hint of eroticism and the suggestion of a narrative, that Wheatley produced particular talent for capturing facial expressions, and his skilled use after his return from Ireland. The watercolor highlights Wheatley's of color. A young peasant woman, prettily dressed in a striped skirt and clean white apron, is seated in front of a spinning wheel. Her suitor stands behind her stroking her arm. An analogy is made between the bird in the cage, protected from the cat, and the more tenuous position of the young woman, who may or may not be seduced. This watercolor served as the modello for an engraving published in 1787.

Gallery label for Francis Wheatley (Yale Center for British Art, 2005-08-31 - 2006-02-05)

This watercolor was made as a study for the print “The Rustic Lover”, published in 1787. During his time in Dublin, Wheatley began to paint scenes of peasant life, and upon returning to London he concentrated on this genre. Here he uses his signature technique from the 1780s: a pen outline is filled in with washes of softly hued pastel watercolor.
“The Rustic Lover” is difficult to locate within debates about the representation of the peasant in eighteenth-century British art. On the one hand, Wheatley seems to suggest that his lower-class figures are morally compromised. The young girl’s dress is slipping off her shoulder as she turns to listen to the seductive words being whispered into her ear. However, the bird (a well-known symbol for female virtue) has not yet escaped from its protective cage. Here, and in other representations of peasants, Wheatley masters a delicate balancing act between lascivious humor and innocence. His female protagonist teeters on the brink of moral failure without falling into debauchery. This tension explains the popularity of images such as “The Rustic Lover”, as well as Wheatley's later series “The Cries of London”.

Cassandra Albinson

Baskett, John, Jules David Prown, Duncan Robinson, Brian Allen, and William Reese. Paul Mellon's Legacy: A Passion for British Art. New Haven : Yale Center for British Art , 2007, cat. no. 54

An American's Passion for British Art - Paul Mellon's Legacy (Royal Academy of Arts, 2007-10-20 - 2008-01-27) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Paul Mellon's Legacy : A Passion for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2007-04-18 - 2007-07-29) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

An American's Passion for British Art - Paul Mellon's Legacy (Yale Center for British Art, 2007-04-18 - 2007-07-29) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Francis Wheatley (Yale Center for British Art, 2005-08-31 - 2006-02-05) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Works of Splendor and Imagination - The Exhibition Watercolor 1770-1870 (Yale Center for British Art, 1981-09-16 - 1981-11-22) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

John Baskett, Paul Mellon's Legacy: a Passion for British Art: Masterpieces from the Yale Center for British Art, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, p. 267, no. 54, pl. 54, N5220 M552 P38 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Catalogue of the art treasures of the United Kingdom : collected at Manchester in 1857., Bradbury and Evans, London, p. 180, no. 60, N5056 .M35 M25 1857 (YCBA) Also available in Hathitrust [YCBA]

Paul Mellon's Legacy : a passion for British art [large print labels], , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, v. 2, no. 54, N5220 M552 P381 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

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