Hullo Largess! A Harvest Scene in Norfolk, by William Maw Egley (1826–1916). 1860-62. Oil on canvas. 48 x 72 inches (122 x 183 cm). Collection of the National Trust, Scotney Castle, Kent, accession no. 792042, reproduced here with kind permission.
Hullo Largess! A Harvest Scene in Norfolk was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1862, no. 514. It was accompanied by these lines in the exhibition catalogue: "At the time of harvest, when the men are reaping down the fields, should their master have any visitors, the head man among the labourers usually asks for a largess. Then they collect in a circle, etc. etc." Egley's painting portrays the wealthy and well-dressed members of a landed gentry family observing the labour of their workers at harvest time in a half-harvested field. Particularly striking is the bright blue dress of the young woman in the left foreground with her black cape and hat. The head man of the farm labourers has invoked Hullo Largess in the expectation of a present and some of the workers have gathered in a circle raising their joined hands and shouting. A young peasant girl from among the workers holds out her right hand to receive a coin from the younger daughter of the well-to-do farm owner, seen digging for one in her pocket. The peasants in the picture are of all ages, from infants to the elderly. In the midground is a row of trees and behind this can be seen the tower of the local church. The scene takes place under a brilliant blue cloudy sky.
Left: Closer view of the group on the left. Right: Closer view of the group on the left.
When it was shown at the Royal Academy in 1862 it was not widely reviewed although W. M. Rossetti in The Spectator did briefly comment on it: "'Hallo [sic] Largess' (514) is interesting as the representation of a local custom fast dying out, by Mr. Egley" (522). Rebecca Easby has explained how a belief in the traditional ways of life led some artists to celebrate the continuation of ancient rituals in Victorian times:
Another such scene is William Maw Egley's Hullo Largess! A Harvest Scene in Norfolk of 1862. Egley depicts an old East Anglian custom where, if the farmer has a visitor during the harvest, the head man among the workers asks for a largess. The workers then form a circle and shout "Hullo Largess" while raising their clasped hands. This is done three times and followed by three successive whoops. In each painting the contemporary costume worn by the figures celebrates the survival of these ancient customs in a time when many of these rites have been discarded, along with the way of life which ensured their continuation. 62]
Egley may have been familiar with this custom because his mother Sarah Maw was originally from Norfolk. In 1860 Egley had stayed with John Rose at Reedham Old Hall in Norfolk. (National Trust website). Rose commissioned the painting but it is unclear whether the subject was Rose's idea or Egley's.
Sketch for Hullo Largess, A Harvest Scene in Norfolk. 1861. Oil on board. 11 1/2 x 17 1/4 inches (29.5 x 44 cm). Private collection. Image courtesy of Sotheby's.
It is interesting to contrast Egley's first idea for the picture, as seen in the preliminary oil sketch, with the finished painting. The most obvious change has been the inclusion of the elderly squire between the two young women on the left. Details of the costumes and their colours have also been greatly modified in the finished version. This is most obvious where Egley has changed the colour of the dress of the elder of the two young upper class women from a dull grey to a dazzling blue colour, which has greatly livened up the finished painting. The treatment of the sky is also much more effective in the finished composition. The various oil sketches by Egley that have appeared on the art market show he followed the normal academic practice of preliminary drawings followed by an oil sketch before proceeding with his final, more finished, composition.
Bibliography
Easby, Rebecca Jeffrey. "The Myth of Merrie England in Victorian Painting." In Florence S. Boos, Ed. History and Community: Essays in Victorian Medievalism. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge Library Editions: Histiography, 2016. 59-80.
British & Continental Pictures. London: Sotheby's (11 July 2007): lot 70.
'Hullo Largess,' A Harvest Scene in Norfolk. National Trust website. https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/792042.
Rossetti, William Michael. "Fine Arts. Exhibition of the Royal Academy." The Spectator XXXV (10 May 1862): 521-22.
Sayer, Karen. Women of the Fields. Representations of Rural Women in the Nineteenth Century. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995, 111.
Created 16 July 2024