Widow Costard's cow and goods, distrained for taxes, are redeemed by the generosity of Johnny Pearmain
Date:
1782
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
36 x 31 inches (91.4 x 78.7 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1981.25.498
Gallery Label:
Edward Penny exhibited this picture at the Royal Academy in 1782. A genre picture with a moral about practical charity, it represents Johnny Pearmain, the scion of a Shropshire family, paying off a widow’s debts at the eleventh hour. Bailiffs have already begun driving away her cow, her sole means of subsistence, and are preparing to take possession of her cottage to render her homeless. Penny made a reputation with these small, moralizing pictures, scaled to modest domestic interiors, which reflect the changing market for art that emerged with the advent of public exhibitions in the 1760s. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016
