Jacob Thompson

Christie's, London, 11 July 1969, lot 50, where bought by Sir David Scott

London, Royal Academy, 1854, no.1078;
Edinburgh, National Gallery of Scotland, Sunshine and Shadow - The David Scott Collection of Victorian Paintings, 1991, no. 6

Llewellynn Jewitt, The Life and Works of Jacob Thompson, London, 1882, pp.44-46;
Christopher Wood, The Dictionary of Victorian Painters, Woodbridge, 1978, illus.  pl.740

The following condition report has been provided by Hamish Dewar, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. STRUCTURAL CONDITION The canvas is lined and securely attached to a wooden keyed stretcher with one horizontal and one vertical cross-bar. This is providing a stable and secure structural support. PAINT SURFACE Under ultraviolet light significant areas of retouching can be seen. This is predominantly an area in the centre of the painting along the horizon line, with the retouched area extending into both the sky and the landscape and measuring approximately 19 cm x 20 cm. Other scattered retouchings are visible in the sky and the clouds appear to be retouched substantially as they fluoresce under ultraviolet light. An area measuring approximately 6 cm x 7 cm is visible in the sky adjoining the left hand vertical framing edge. Some of the retouchings have discoloured and are visible in natural light. The central retouching could possible be covering an old area of pentimenti. The figures and foreground appear to have little or no retouching. SUMMARY The painting therefore appears to be in stable and relatively good condition having undergone restoration work in the past. The painting could be cleaned and the old discoloured retouchings replaced but this is certainly not necessary for reasons of conservation. Hamish Dewar Ltd, 13 & 14 Mason's Yard, Duke Street, St James's, London SW1Y 6BU Tel: +44 (0)20 7930 4004 Fax: +44 (0)20 7930 4100 Email: hamish@hamishdewar.co.uk
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Thompson's biographer Llewellynn Jewitt, described the painting as '... a charming bit of rural life... which is remarkable for the richness, beauty, and pre-Raphaelite truthfulness of nature of the bank of foliage, the foreground and the trees. Seated in a quiet nook by the rough bank or hedge-side are a couple of young lovers - she with a pleased but deeply thoughtful countenance, her "burn' o' sticks," which she has evidently been met carrying home, lying by her side, her right arm hanging listlessly down and grasping one of the sticks, her chin resting daintily on the tips of the fingers of her left hand; he, his "bonnet doffed" and cast on the ground, looking earnestly and pleadingly into the sweet face before, but partly averted from, him, holding out his right hand, the left the while clasping a branch he has unconsciously picked up. The attitude, expression, situation, and surroundings lead one to almost fancy one can hear the softly breathed and tremulously intoned vital question, "Lassie! Wil't be mine?" and see the intense expression of anxiety that awaits the maiden's answer.' (Llewellynn Jewitt, The Life and Works of Jacob Thompson, 1882, pp. 44-45) The Art Journal described the subject of the picture as '... an old story, true to its sentiment, and depicted so pleasantly as we might expect a disagreeable subject to be; for one does not like to see young lovers unhappy' (ibid Jewitt, p. 46)

Thompson was to paint the subject twice. The variant being a horizontal composition, known through an engraving, where the subject is dissipated by both the enlarged scale of the landscape and the inclusion of an old woman approaching a stile. Thompson seems to have intended to include her in this version, and traces of her can be discerned behind the couple, but she was removed. The horizontal version (Fig 1) remained unsold in the artist's studio and was seen there by Llewellynn Jewitt when he visited Thompson's widow.