This is Palmer’s eighth etching which he worked on until 1865 achieving a rich effect. This is the final version of the etching. It shows a weary ploughman returning to his cottage by moonlight with his pair of oxen. The composition was possibly inspired by Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard which describes such a scene.
The Weary Ploughman 1858-65 by Samuel Palmer (1805-1881). Etching
In this 1858 impression of a state 8 of 8 etching we are shown a moonlit scene where a weary ploughman wearing a long smock returns along a path to his cottage behind which rise wooded hills. He carries a staff over his right shoulder and is accompanied by two oxen and a dog. The composition is framed by a flowering horse chestnut tree on the left and a fallen tree on the right.
It was possibly inspired by a translation of Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1751):
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd winds slowly o’er the lea,
The plowman howeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
This is Palmer’s eighth etching. It took him six weeks to perfect the initial composition which he continued to develop until 1865 with impressive results.
Samuel Palmer is considered to be one of Britain’s most original artists, and a key figure in the Romantic movement.
Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery collection, bequest of Emily and Gordon Bottomley 1949
Image © Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery
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