Visual Art Analyzation

Fig. 1: James Ward, The Reapers, 1800, Yale Center for British Art, British Haven, CT, 1998, <http://collections.britishart.yale.edu/vufind/Record/1668583>.

James Ward, Great Britain

The Reapers

Oil on Canvas, 1800

18 1/8” x 24 1/4”

The eighteenth century was a time of agricultural revolution for the country of Great Britain, with farming becoming a true occupation, not just the work of the lowest class (Kinkead, Funda, McNeill, 42). James Ward was a British artist during this great time of change for the agricultural system. He was best known for his landscape paintings and paintings of animals (Art UK, “James Ward: 1769-1859”). However, he also created artwork that depicted farmers, such as the painting The Reapers (see fig. 1).

The Reapers depicts a scene between a farmer and possibly his landowner, representing the typical agricultural system found in European countries until the eighteenth century. The audience can see three people working hard in the fields, gathering wheat, and one farmer showing a well-dressed man the work being done. There is also a very beautifully dressed lady upon her horse looking down on the scene. This two individuals who are dressed in much fancier clothing, with brighter colors than the rest of the painting, seem to be portraying people of a much higher social status than the workers. There is also a small child sleeping on the hay in the painting, which suggests that the whole lower class family was needed in order to complete the farming tasks at hand. It seems that Ward really wanted to represent the high amount of dedication and hard work that farming required from a family at this time. 

James Ward often gave his paintings a sense of grandeur, dramatization, and romanticism (Art UK, “James Ward: 1769-1859”). The softness of the oil paints used gives the audience a romantic feeling upon first glance.  However, when looking at the smaller details of Ward’s painting, the audience can see a more dramatic and darker side of this way of life. The colors used in this painting are colors typically found in nature, but there is a darkness to them. For example, the darkness of the clouds in the background leaves the audience with a very ominous feeling. This darkness, along with the somewhat distraught faces of the farmers and crossed arms of the well-dressed man, leaves the audience with more of an insecure feeling than a pleasant one. The sense of urgency of the farmers helps show how hard of a life these peasant farmers had. Ward seems to be representing the past way of farming, not with a sense of nostalgia, but with a sense of sadness. This beautiful painting truly depicts the struggle of the lower class being at the mercy and under the control of the higher classes in society, and the freedom that the agricultural revolution brought to many. 

Works Cited

Kinkead, Joyce, Funda, Evelyn, and McNeill, Lynne S. Farm: A Multimodal Reader. 2^nd ed., Fountainhead Press, 2016.

Art UK. “James Ward: 1769-1859.” Public Catalogue Foundation. https://artuk.org/discover/artists/ward-james-17691859. Accessed 18 Feb. 2017.