An English Merrymaking a Hundred Years Ago

An English Merrymaking a Hundred Years Ago
Artist	William Powell Frith
Year	1847
Type	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	113 cm × 185.5 cm (44 in × 73.0 in)
Location	Private Collection

An English Merrymaking a Hundred Years Ago is an 1847 genre painting by the British artist William Powell Frith.[1][2] During the early stages of his career Frith was a member of The Clique artistic group. He later became known for his panoramic crowd scenes The Derby Day and The Railway Station.

The work depicts a day of festivities in an English village in the mid-eighteenth century. It was one of several paintings that cemented Frith's growing reputation.[3] It was exhibited at the Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition of 1847. An oil sketch for the painting is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum.[4]

References

1. Gaunt p.223
2. Trotter p.6
3. Wrightsman p.381
4. https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O127910/an-english-merry-making-a-oil-painting-frith-william-powell/

Bibliography

• Gaunt, William. The Restless Century: Painting in Britain, 1800-1900. Phaidon, 1972.
• Green, Richard & Sellars, Jane. William Powell Frith: The People's Painter. Bloomsbury, 2019.
• Trotter, David. William Powell Frith: Painting the Victorian Age. Yale University Press, 2006
• Wrightsman, Jayne . The Wrightsman Pictures. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005.