804 - William H. Ward, "Bäuerliches Leben", farmers with daughter at a gate, English genre painting, 1895

William H. Ward, "Bäuerliches Leben", farmers with daughter at a gate, English genre painting, 1895 (active in Birmingham from 1850), oil on canvas, signed and dated 1895 lower left, inscribed by another hand on the stretcher on the reverse, label of a framing shop in Christchurch on the reverse, genre depiction of country life, a farming couple with their daughter at a fence at the edge of a wood, deep in conversation, the farmer in a light smock with hat and red neckerchief, both hands resting on the handle of a two-pronged fork, the woman in a blue-grey jacket and red skirt, green hat with red ribbon, carrying a bundle of grain under her arm, the girl in a blue dress with straw hat has sat down on the ground and looks up at him, behind them fence posts and a gate in front of dense foliage, condition commensurate with age, heavy craquelure, retouching, area backed from behind at lower centre, image 37x24.5 cm (HxW), framed, frame slightly bumped, frame width 5 cm William H. Ward was a painter based in Birmingham who from 1850 exhibited at the Royal Academy in London as well as at the British Institution and in Suffolk Street, and in 1856 was elected a member of the Birmingham Society of Artists. From 1858 to 1868 he lived on Balsall Heath Road in Birmingham, and he continued to exhibit there until 1882. He first became known for small-format, meticulously executed still lifes of fruit, flowers and birds' nests in the succession of William Henry Hunt and in the spirit of the Pre-Raphaelites with their observation of nature and fine brushwork. He also painted genre scenes of English country life, such as anglers on the riverbank or a gamekeeper with a companion, which show the rural population of the Victorian era.