Landscape; The Cornfield

Artist Nathaniel Hone (1831 - 1917)

Datec.1893

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions61 x 101.5 cm

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery. Donated by the Widow of Nathaniel Hone (the Artist) in remembrance of Sir Hugh Lane.

Object number242

DescriptionThree figures, two men and a woman, with white shirts and heads covered, are shown at work in the harvest, perhaps on Hone's land near Malahide, in late summer. They are gathering sheaves of corn from a section of field in the foreground which has already been cut, while the lush, golden expanse of the uncut meadows spreads behind them. The landscape is treated in a simple manner: the field suggested in broad strokes of yellow and gold; loose and rapid brushstrokes depict a clump of trees while above is a cloudy sky with
touches of blue. Although Hone is closely associated with pure landscape, small figures do appear in many of his open-air scenes. However, The Cornfield is unusual in his oeuvre in that, by his own standards, the figures are quite large and close to the foreground; they are vigorous, shown engaged in work, standing, stooping or crouching. In addition, this is a specific harvest scene, striking in its golden tonality, qualities which give a pastoral, narrative feeling to the painting. Even though it is painted in Ireland, The Cornfield relates to the Barbizon tradition of the representation of French peasants at work in the landscape, as well as Poussin's Summer 1660-64, which Hone may have seen in the Louvre. (From: The Collection Revealed: Nathaniel Hone, p. 15)

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