Yale Center for British Art

Creator:
Francis Wheatley, 1747–1801, British
Title:
The Rustic Lover
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:
spinning wheels | milk | cat (domestic cat) | leaves | bird | distaff | bodice | genre subject | chairs | cupboard | table | bonnet | coat | skirt | shirt | apron | hat | stockings | shoes (footwear) | barrel | pot | saucer | scissors | birdcage | box (container) | mug | basket | thread | cloth | interior (space) | rooms | buckles | nails | buttons | hinges (fasteners) | door | shoelaces | laces | window | courtship | ribbon | bricks | woman | man | lovers | lover | peasants | courtship
Currently On View:
Not on view
Exhibition History:
An American's Passion for British Art - Paul Mellon's Legacy (Yale Center for British Art, 2007-04-18 - 2007-07-29)

An American's Passion for British Art - Paul Mellon's Legacy (Royal Academy of Arts, 2007-10-20 - 2008-01-27)

Paul Mellon's Legacy : A Passion for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2007-04-18 - 2007-07-29)

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

Works of Splendor and Imagination - The Exhibition Watercolor 1770-1870 (Yale Center for British Art, 1981-09-16 - 1981-11-22)
Publications:
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)

Catalogue of the art treasures of the United Kingdom : collected at Manchester in 1857, Bradbury and Evans, London, 1857, p. 180, no. 60, N5056 .M35 M25 1857 (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)
Gallery Label:
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)
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:15332