Barking Timber in Wychwood Forest, Oxfordshire

1818 (?)

Not on view

Cristall’s considerable achievements as a watercolorist were largely forgotten after his death until he was rediscovered in 1950 by a leading art historian, who affirmed his significant stylistic influence on John Sell Cotman. A focus on the human figure sets the artist apart from watercolorist contemporaries, and this example demonstrates an abiding interest in themes of rural work. He encountered these bark workers in Wychwood Forest in Oxfordshire and shows them stripping bark from felled oaks to produce a product needed to tan leather. While Cristall was aware of precedents in the work of Thomas Gainsborough and George Morland, he gives the comely young woman at the center of this composition a new nobility and avoids sentimentality, or any sense of narrative.

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

Exhibition History

References

Title: Barking Timber in Wychwood Forest, Oxfordshire
Artist: Joshua Cristall (British, baptised London 1768–1847 London)
Date: 1818 (?)
Medium: Graphite, pen and gray ink, watercolor with reductive techniques and gum arabic
Dimensions: Sheet: 15 3/4 x 12 1/4 in. (40 x 31.1 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Purchase, Brooke Russell Astor Bequest, 2013
Object Number: 2013.106
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

In the same medium

From the same time and place

A slider containing 5 items.
Press the down key to skip to the last item.

The Lake of Zug, Joseph Mallord William Turner British, Watercolor and bodycolor (gouache) with reductive techniques over graphite — The Lake of Zug
Joseph Mallord William Turner
1843

Sabrina, Samuel Palmer British, Watercolor and gouache (bodycolor) over graphite, with reductive techniques, shell gold and gum arabic — Sabrina
Samuel Palmer
1856

Loggia of the Ducal Palace, Venice, John Ruskin British, Watercolor over graphite — Loggia of the Ducal Palace, Venice
John Ruskin
1849–50

Lady Lilith, Dante Gabriel Rossetti British, Watercolor and gouache (bodycolor) — Lady Lilith
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Henry Treffry Dunn
1867

The Entombment, Sir Edward Burne-Jones British, Green, blue, brown and touches of reddish bodycolor, heightened with white gouache (bodycolor) on green paper — The Entombment
Sir Edward Burne-Jones
1879

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.