Medium: oil
Size: 16 x 22 inches (39 x 54.5 cm)
Exhibited: Royal Academy, 1903
This picture was painted during Crowe’s time in Boulogne in the summer of 1902. In his diary he writes that he used a French model called Ernestine Leroi for the girl milking.
A ‘Landscape with Outbuildings and Cattle – Milking Time’ (16 x 22 inches, undated, part of the possessions of the late Eyre Crowe, was sold at auction by Messrs Furber on 22 February 1911, fetching 12 shillings.
On 24 November 2022 the painting, entitled ‘Milkmaid with Cattle’, was sold at the Clevedon Salerooms, Bristol (Lot 573). A label on the back of the gilt frame indicated that it had previously been in the possession of W. Cannon Dalby, 7 Town Hall Square, Bradford. Its size was also given as 16 x 22 inches, and the subject matter fits with the contemporary descriptions of ‘Milking Time’. It can be strongly surmised that the painting sold in 1911 was the painting exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1903, and that it came up for auction again in 2022.
Despite having been exhibited at the Royal Academy (but perhaps because it was not identified as such in the sale listing), the painting was sold for only £160. WHAT A BARGAIN!
Eyre Crowe (1824-1910) 