Myles Birket Foster, R.W.S. (1825-1899)

Birket Foster was popular for his sentimental rustic scenes of everyday Victorian life. The current lot depicts farm labourers collecting the hay. A hay wain dominates the centre of the composition. To the left of the foreground children play and to the right a mother and her baby rest in the shadow of a tree. A rural arcadia is laid out under the blue sky of a late summer day.