Additional Images

Provenance:

The Duke of Bedford, Woburn Abbey, No. 424;
Sold at Christie’s, London on 19 January 1951, lot 203;
Purchased by Vladimir and Johanna Vanjecek, Bosch en Duin, the Netherlands in an antique shop in London, England, circa 1974-75;
By descent through the family to the present Private Collection, Canada

Literature:

Edited by Grant F. Scott, “Joseph Severn: Letters and Memoirs”, 2005, Cornwall, pages 18,19, 67, 68 and 273;
“The Vintage” is recorded at Woburn Abbey by George Scharf in his “Catalogue of the Collection of Pictures at Woburn Abbey”, 1877

Exhibited:

The Royal Academy as “The Vintage at Gensano in Italy” in 1827, No. 273

Note:

In Scott's “Joseph Severn Letters and Memoirs”, it is stated that Severn was commissioned by the Duke of Bedford to paint this work in 1825, however in 1824, Severn mentions sketches for “The Vintage”, a painting that took a year to complete. The work was purchased in 1827 by Lord William Russell, the brother of the Duke of Bedford.

Severn was intent on creating a work different from his classical studies: “I determined that I would paint a Vintage composition, an upright picture with vines growing up an Elm---the men in the tree filling up baskets and lowering them down to the women who catch any falling grapes in their aprons”. During the production of this painting, Severn took a creative leap and decided against the use of models. He convinced peasant women from Ariccia and Gensano (towns outside of Rome) to pose for him, so he would be able to portray the “unaffected simplicity” he was yearning for. This simplicity was derived from his desire to “find that elevated and abstract beauty of the antique sculpture in the living people”. The candor and purity of the women pictured is paired with a complex and detailed background and a multitude of figures, sixteen in total.

After its completion “The Vintage” was sold for 150 GBP and brought to England where it was hung in exhibition at the Royal Academy, the mastery of “The Vintage” was recognized by fellow painters Sir Thomas Lawrence, George Hayter and Augustus Calcott. “The Vintage” greatly increased Severn’s popularity as a painter of Italian scenes and in general; so much so he was forced to turn down commissions. The success of “The Vintage” led Severn to exhibit eleven more paintings at the Royal Academy between 1827 and 1834. After the exhibition, “The Vintage” was brought to Woburn Abbey where it was hung among other works by distinguished contemporaries in the Duke of Bedford's collection.

After its sale at Christie’s in 1951, it's whereabouts were unknown, until now.