Terms and conditions of use
Ben Eay in sunset glow
1883
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
122.3 × 213.5 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1883
Gallery location
19th Century European Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
The Athenaeum (1883) considered that Davis had never painted anything better than two of his three contributions to the Academy that year, Gathering the Flock and Ben Eay, ‘a hill in Ross-shire, with a moorland foreground. A still pool is shining in a hollow in front, where half wild cattle are grouped in full sunlight. A magnificent group of hills forms a pyramid in the distance and hides the horizon. Enormous cumuli float aloft and fill the air with reflected light. The painting of the cattle is exceptionally masterly’. The Art Journal (1883) described the scene as ‘A part of the “Kylies”, painted as only Mr Davis can ...’. The artist stayed frequently with his principal patrons, Lord & Lady Middleton, at their houses in Yorkshire and Ross-shire, from the early 1880s. He exhibited another Ben Eay, Ross-shire, at the RA 1906 (no. 279). A small picture, Ben Eay 1883 was sold at Christie’s, 16 February 1889, no. 97.
Artwork Details
Inscription
inscribed in brown paint l.l.: H. W. B. Davis 1883
Accession Number
p.309.3-1
Department
International Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited
Subjects (general)
Animals Landscapes
Subjects (specific)
bulls (animals) Eay, Ben (mountain) evening mountains reflections (perceived properties) Scotland (country) sunset United Kingdom (nation)
Provenance
Exhibited Royal Academy, London, 1883, no. 398; with John and William Vokins (dealers), London, 1883; from where purchased, by Alfred Taddy Thomson, for the NGV, 1883.
Exhibited: Royal Academy, London, 1883, no. 398; The First Fifty Years: Nineteenth Century British Art from the Gallery Archives, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 1992.