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“A Country Blacksmith Disputing upon the Price of Iron, and the Price Charged to the Butcher for Shoeing his Poney” Watercolor 18 x 14 in. Cartouched I COPIED THIS from a work done in 1807 by J.M.W. Turner - said to have been “...England’s greatest painter” (Turner. John Walker, author. Harry N. Abrams, Inc. NYC 1976). My main reason for doing this picture was to add to my collection of blacksmith-shop paintings... More generally known as “The Blacksmith’s Shop”, this picture as originally titled (above) is said to be the longest titled art-painting in the English language! Turner was essentially a painter of the heroic, and this anecdotal painting is out of place in his oeuvre. The circumstances are that he was competing against one David Wilkie in a showing, and desired to upstage him as he felt he had not been recognized (yet) for his genius. He chose this “tranquil episode of everyday country life” to prove he could tell a story as well as Wilkie and his fellow genre painters. The picture was well-received - but so, indeed, was Wilkie’s entry (The Blind Fiddler). Turner is a master of chromatic harmony, according to Walker (my amateurish copy in no way does justice to this aspect of his painting). Critics at the time however, cited the fact his forge puts forth only the palest of yellowish flames midst the smoke ... and as a blacksmith I can concur: a ruddier hue would have been more realistic... The painting has a great “feel”, if you have ever been around a smithy (or the more popular designation: “blacksmith’s shop”). It, in fact, reminds me of my old Weeping Heart Forge in Redding Ridge, CT. The horses stand quietly at right. The farrier shoes the “Butcher’s Poney” in foreground, while this spirited mount lowers his head to investigate some spilled forage (we note in 18th Century England the presence of a cabbage and turnips, and an unusual wicker storage basket). The period saddles on the horses backs are interesting, too. Beyond the furthest horse we see a checkered horse blanket spread to air...The butcher and his assistant lean on the brick partition - apparently questioning the charges on the bill in the butcher’s hands. The smith, apparently unmoved by their story, stands resolutely behind his anvil - arms spread, a hammer in one hand and the other resting on the grindstone housing. “The worker knows the value of his work”. His apprentice, in the glare from the forge, works the handle of the “great bellows” and no doubt takes in in detail his Master’s replies... In a room beyond, another hanger-on is just arriving at a back door: smithies, then as now, are favorite places to pass the time of day. Chickens scratch in the foreground at left; the twig-broom and shovel are a nice counterpoint to the horses at the right... and most necessary where those beasts are quartered! We see the smith is also a generalist as all good smiths are, by the pots and pans and various pieces of ironmongery piled in the shop’s gloom along the left side - waiting repairs, new handles, etc. This detail certainly reminds me of the clutter in my old shop. Just behind the smith stands his heavy sledge in the shadow of his leg. And don’t miss the ale glass on its side, and the kaolin (churchwarden) pipe at the base of the brick separator - at the feet of the butcher. No doubt they belong to the farrier who was taking his ease, when business arrived at the shop... BWP | Home |
