Morning, 1810

Sir Augustus Wall Callcott RA (1779 - 1844)

RA Collection: Art

Callcott was born and lived in what was then the small hamlet of Kensington Gravel Pits. He studied at the Royal Academy Schools from 1797 and also with the portrait painter, John Hoppner, RA (1758–1810). His first exhibits at the Royal Academy were portraits but by the turn of the century he was specializing in landscape painting. He was a close friend and admirer of J.M.W. Turner, RA (1775–1851).

This work however is influenced by Dutch painting as well as the rustic landscapes of Gainsborough. Callcott creates an undulating composition full of lively details of village life: the horses are fed, two boys are sent off to school, one willingly and the other less so and the dog in the foreground worries the chickens.