SAMUEL PALMER

(1805-1881)

The Early Ploughman was begun before 1861, but not completed until 1880. Palmer did not start etching until around 1850 and many influences were to come from his previous work. In the instance of The Early Ploughman, the figure of the ploughman and oxen were used for a later watercolour of 1863, entitled Italian Dawn and both were probably utilised for the Milton watercolours. Lister suggests a picture Palmer had seen in the Pitti Palace, Florence, in 1839 may have inspired this work. Palmer made a number of studies of oxen pulling ploughs during his visit to Italy in 1839.

According to his son, A.H. Palmer, the title The Morning Spread upon the Mountains was used when the etching was sold in the 1860s. The rebiting of state 6 was completed in 1880. In a letter to Martin Hardie (V&A) A.H. Palmer stated:

I find that I have one legitimate state, which is absolutely unique, of the Early Ploughman. When my father made up his mind (and a great pity it was) to add work to the plate, I re-bit it very successfully (he doing all the stopping out), in order to make the printing of the impression which he and others seemed to prefer to all. Of this re-bitten state I have only one proof.

Copyright © Trustees of Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford.

Extract taken from Prints, Cecil Higgins Art Gallery .