Coming from St. Ives Market by Robert Walker Macbeth R.A., R.W.S., R.E., R.I., R.O.I. (1848-1910). 1878. Oil on canvas; 371/2 x 79 inches (95.2 x 200.7 cm). Private collection. [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
A group of farm labourers walk along a country road returning from selling their produce at St. Ives Market. The central figures of a man and woman stride forward carrying the baskets that had originally carried their produce for sale. The man carries a walking stick in his left hand. In front of them walks a young man carrying his daughter on his shoulders. A dog follows alongside. The movement of the people has raised a huge cloud of dust that obscures the people walking to the left of the composition. A horse and cart follows behind, scattering a flock of sheep being driven along the road, and raising a further cloud of dust. An unusual appearing sky, with interesting atmospheric effects created by the dust, is shown as the sun sets in the right background.
Macbeth exhibited this painting at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1878, no. 9. A critic for The Saturday Review praised the picture: "Passing from the Royal Academy to the Grosvenor Gallery we may note as yet another instance of the talent exhibited by some of our younger painters for exalting common occurrences into the regions of art, Mr. R. W. Macbeth's Coming from St. Ives Market (9), to give a general idea of which we cannot do better than quote the description appended to a sketch of the picture in Mr. Henry Blackburn's excellent Grosvenor Notes (Chatto & Windus) – 'Vivid Sunset Effect on a Dusty Road; Sheep scattered to the Roadside by an approaching Cart'" (661). The Spectator disliked the look of Macbeth's principal female model: "No. 9, Coming from St. Ives Market , by R. W. Macbeth, is hardly so good as is this painter's usual work; and when shall we see the last of this black-browed, snaky-haired model of his, who stands six feet high, and strides heavily as a dragoon; she had all the attraction of novelty at first, but, as the American say, is 'pretty well played out' by this time" (567).
The reviewer for The Illustrated London News praised the sense of movement in Macbeth's figures: "Mr. Robert W. Macbeth - the Columella of painters, for he makes agriculture poetical – wins golden opinions in Coming from St. Ives Market (9) – a strong, nervous, racy composition, to the excellence of which the only drawbacks are, first a little vagueness in the drawing of human features, and next a little uncertainty in the disposition of human extremities. Mr. Macbeth has, on the other hand, a really marvellous power of imbuing every living thing in his picture, be it man, woman, or child, or horse, or dog, or fowl, with the appearance of rapid movement. The actors in his dramas run, and skip, and leap; they almost fly" (411).
Compare this painting with the etching based on it (above). Click on the image for more details about it.
Bibliography
"Art. The Grosvenor Gallery." The Spectator LI (4 May 1878): 567-68.
"The Grosvenor Gallery." The Illustrated London News LXXII (4 May 1878): 410-11.
"The Picture Galleries III." The Saturday Review XLV (25 May 1878): 660-61.
Created 1 June 2023