The quotations at the head of each section are taken from Graves' list of Royal Academy exhibitors, and represent the inspiration for the painting, as submitted to the Academy's catalogue by Eyre Crowe.
Title: A Sheep-Shearing Match (1875)
Medium: oil
Size: 37 x 82½ cm
Exhibited: Royal Academy, 1875
Current owner: National Gallery of Victoria, Australia
Presented through the NGV Foundation by Ms Deidre Cowan, Governor, in 2002,
to the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia
Athenaeum, 1 May 1875:
It is one of the most carefully and conscientiously executed pictures of the year, giving a scene under a tent in bright sunlight, with beautifully drawn and solidly painted figures, all designed with first-rate spirit. The sheep are worthy of our English Meissonier, as Mr. Crowe has, not inappropriately, been styled.
The Times, 15 May 1875:
Mr. Eyre Crowe's 'Sheep-Shearing Match' is one of the series of pictures of paintable subjects from actual life to which this painter has, laudably, of late devoted himself, and so deserved the thanks due to all who honestly delineate, with adequate skill, the things about them, without even travelling for picturesque subjects.
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The painting was sold by Sotheby's on 25 Aug 1998 for 80,000 Australian dollars. It was auctioned again in 2001, and the following year was presented through the NGV Foundation by Ms Deidre Cowan, Governor, to the National Gallery of Victoria, Australia.
Title: Handing the Brush (1875)
Medium: oil
Exhibited: Royal Academy, 1875
Athenaeum, 1 May 1875:
... a scene outside the gates of a park. A huntsman offers to a lady seated in a waggonette the spoil of the hunt - a fox's tail. This is, probably, a group of portraits. The subject is certainly not a fortunate one for an artist of ability. We fancy the bright brown horse in the centre is a little too thin, both as to its contours and its painting. But the picture is brightly and, generally, solidly painted.
Illustrated London News, 15 May 1875:
... another hunting-subject, 'Handing the Brush' (385), by Eyre Crowe, which, on account of its comparative freedom from hardness, we prefer to the artist's more elaborate efforts.
Title: The French Savants in Egypt, 1798 (1875)
Medium: oil
Exhibited: Royal Academy, 1875
'When the Mamelukes charged, the cry was "Let Messieurs the savants and the donkeys enter within the square"'
Athenaeum, 1 May 1875:
During the expedition of the French in 1798, a joke was current which associated the troops with the donkeys on which they rode. It was said that when the Mamelukes charged the invaders, MM. les savants and les ânes were ordered within the square formed to receive cavalry. Mr. Crowe has taken advantage of the tale to present to us a well-arranged and admirably-executed group of the learned men in question, reclining, lounging or standing on the desert sand in hot sunlight. Bertholet sits on a black mule, and talks with Villoteau, a draughtsman; St. Hilaire, seen in profile, converses with Dutestre, another draughtsman; next to Fourier is Conté, the latter with a bandage over the eye which he lost while experimenting in the manufacture of the crayons which preserve his name; Denon is in a green coat, listening to Monge, who gesticulates with both hands; Balzac is talking with Cotaz; the latter, in a blue coat, lies on the sand. It is a capital, solid and careful picture, a little hard in execution, and rather scattered in colour, but otherwise quite a model for the painters of the present day.
Illustrated London News, 15 May 1875:
[We prefer 'Handing the Brush' to] 'The French Savants in Egypt, 1798' (831), where we see 'Messieurs les Savants' and the donkeys in the middle of a large square formed by the French infantry to resist the Mamelukes. Our acknowledgment is due, however, to the conscientious research and the careful thoroughness with which everything is here realised; while climatic influences may to some extent justify the hardness of aspect of which we have complained.
The painting was later shown at the International Exhibition in Paris; the Athenaeum commented (11 May 1878):
... portraits, costume, accessories are studied with marvellous accuracy, but these are the least valuable part of the work, which in technique shows decided mastery.
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The painting was part of the collection of the late R.A. Cosier Esq. of Thamesfield, Berkshire, and was auctioned by Messrs Christie, Manson and Woods, at King Street, St James’s Square, London, on 4 and 5 March 1887. It was purchased by 'Norwood' for £84.
On 12 April 1876, Eyre Crowe was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Arts. He had already submitted his paintings for the 1876 Summer Exhibition, which opened to the public at the beginning of May.
Title: The Rehearsal (1876)
Medium: oil
Exhibited: Royal Academy, 1876
'Euelpides and Pisthetairus have fled from Athens and its vices. In search of a more tranquil region, they are directed by a raven to the community of birds ruled by their king Epops. The scene chosen represents their rebuff, on being at first mistaken for bird-catchers, etc., etc.' - Aristophanes
Athenaeum, 29 April 1876:
Among the remarkable works of the season are ... Mr. Eyre Crowe's The Rehearsal (10), an extremely humourous and characteristic picture from Aristophanes' 'Birds': Greek players with their masks grouped around the poet, who instructs them in their parts, a most vividly conceived group; in the background is the chorus, with masks of gigantic birds.
The Times, 29 April 1876:
Always rather odd in his choice of subject, Mr. Crowe has this year painted (10), 'Aristophanes drilling the personages of his "Birds"'. The poet is hard at work on his Euelpides and Peisthethaerus, while the chorus in their bird-masks stand a little apart.
Athenaeum, 13 May 1876:
Mr. Eyre Crowe's pictures justify his election to the A.R.A.-ship, for they are learned and solid, and they show fruits of long and diligent studies in a fine sense of form, much improvement in colour and brilliancy, with no less firmness than before. The Rehearsal (10) exhibits the stateliness and energy which must have characterised the Greek stage. A group, comprising Aristophanes and the actors who are to play in 'The Birds', appears in front, and the figures are clad in green, black and yellow robes: the players listen intently, and with vivacity of expressions, to the humorous declamation, and they observe the lively action of the poet, who throws up his arms and speaks aloud: some of these figures wear their appropriate masks; others have pushed them back, so that their handsome and earnest faces are displayed. It is a fine and telling group, and the draperies and flesh are most carefully and solidly drawn and painted. Behind, is a larger group of actors in costume, quaint masks and all, standing near the large curtain, ready to go 'before the public'.
Art Journal, August 1876:
There is, certainly, humour in the new Associate's 'Rehearsal' (10); but to the general visitor this picture, with its Euelpides, Pisthetairus, and the Chorus of Birds, will prove both literally and metaphorically Greek.
Title: Darning Day: Red Maids' School, Bristol (1876)
Medium: oil
Size: 45.2 cm, Width: 112.6 cm
Exhibited: Royal Academy, 1876
Current owner: Aberdeen Art Gallery (Acc. No. ABDAG003361)
The Times, 29 April 1876:
'Darning-day - Red Maids' School, Bristol' hangs in the second room. The red-clad little maidens, who seem to find their darning so tedious, are too small in scale for the dimensions of the picture, too much of which is taken up with uninteresting architecture.
Athenaeum, 13 May 1876:
A picture which will charm a greater number of persons than the last [The Rehearsal] exhibits the painter's English subject, which is a very pretty and novel one: it is styled Darning Day, Red Maids' School, Bristol (146). A numerous party of girls, in the brilliant red gowns and white aprons which form the peculiar costume of the institution, are seated on a long bench before the wall of their school, in the smoky sunlight which fills the bare playground of the place. This is the day set apart as a sort of 'holiday', in order to general darning of blue hose; many a pair is calling aloud for the needle, but the maids do not all rise to the occasion, for some are dozing, many a gossipping girl sits with a stocking neglected, and thread that is motionless; some really work; one is duly intent on an ailing eye; one yawns as if bored out of her life. The brilliancy of the dresses, and the spirit of the design by which each figure tells a little story, are unexceptional features of the picture, which, in the background and foreground, is rather too uncompromisingly faithful, or, perhaps, it is only too literal to be as charming in frank handling and rich colouring as the other and more important parts are. We could desire more brightness and variety of tone and colour in these accessories; but nothing could be better than the drawing and painting of the figures and faces, or more acceptable than the wealth of character in the girls.
Art Journal, August 1876:
EYRE CROWE'S 'Darning-day, Red Maids' School, Bristol (146), a row of twenty girls in red dresses and white pinafores seated along the wall of a great room, will be thoroughly appreciated by everybody for the truth and naïveté with which the artist distinguishes the character of one girl from that of another.
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Darning Day is owned by the Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums. An image can be found on their website.
Copyright (c) 2005 Kathryn J. Summerwill. All rights reserved.