George Morland 18thC Original Antique Oil Painting Cattle/Cows in a Barn Signed

Description

An antique oil on canvas painting of two cows in a barn by George Morland (1863-1804).  One of them is licking her side while the sun streams in through the rooflight.

Works by this artist often achieve high prices at auction. Some examples are included at the end of the photos.

Frame:

Presented in a good quality gilt wooden frame.

Signature:

Lower right.

Provenance:

Private collection.

Condition:

Painting and frame are both in good condition. There are some small areas of over painting visible under a UV light. Some unevenness to the canvas.

Measurements:

Painting measures 38 x 28cm and the overall frames 56 x 46cm.

Biography:

George Morland (1763-1804) was the son of Henry Robert Morland, and grandson of George Henry Morland.  He began to draw at the age of three years, and at the age of ten his name appears as an honorary exhibitor at the Royal Academy. His talents were carefully cultivated by his father, who has been accused of doing so for his own profit, shutting the child up to make drawings from pictures which he could easily sell.  George soon found a way to make money for himself by hiding some of his drawings, and then passing them out of the window at night to young accomplices, with whom he used to spend the proceeds.

His father tasked him to copy pictures of all kinds, but especially of the Dutch and Flemish masters. He was also introduced to Sir Joshua Reynolds, and obtained permission to copy his pictures. By the time he was seventeen he had a considerable reputation with his friends and the dealers, and also with artists of repute.

In 1784/5 George set up on his own at the house of a picture dealer, and started a life of hard work and hard drinking.  He soon became the mere slave of the dealer so he escaped to Margate, where he painted miniatures for a while. He then paid a short visit to France.

In July 1786 he married Miss Anne Ward (Nancy), the sister of his friend.  Around this time, he was fond of visiting the Isle of Wight, where he painted his best coast scenes, and studied life and character in a low public-house at Freshwater Gate, called the Cabin.

On moving to Campden Town, he lived in a small house in Pleasing Passage, at the back of the tavern known as Mother Black Cap. The attractions of the neighbouring inns proved too strong for him, and he returned to all his bad habits. A long illness of his wife, following her confinement and death of the child, further weakened the influence of home, and he neglected and ultimately left his wife.

He moved to Warrens Lane and made his headquarters at Paddington. It was probably here that he painted the celebrated picture of 'The Inside of a Stable,' now in the National Gallery, which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1791. The stable is said to be that of the White Lion Inn at Paddington, opposite to which he lived. He exhibited again in 1793 and 1794, but though he still painted finely he had become completely the prey of the dealers, painting to supply himself with funds for his extravagances. He would paint one or two pictures a day, and once painted a large landscape with six figures in the course of six hours.

It is said that during his last eight years he painted 490 pictures for his brother, and probably three hundred more for others, besides making hundreds of drawings. His total production is estimated to be at least four thousand pictures. By 1802 his health was ruined. He was seized with palsy and lost the use of his left hand, so that he could not hold his palette. He seems to have gone on painting to the last, when he was arrested for a publican's score, and died in a sponging-house in Eyre Street, Cold Bath Fields, on 27 October 1804. His wife died three days afterwards, and both were buried together in the burial-ground attached to St. James's Chapel in the Hampstead Road.