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'A Harvest Man - Old Hook, August 74' [Bray album]

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Date

Aug 1774

Description

No. 8 of 74. A drawing of a county reaper signed 'AdVprGB' (to the life by Gabriel Bray). It shows the reaper with his sickle and a small barrico or keg, probably for ale as necessary refreshment in the hot and dusty work of summer harvesting. He also wears protective leggings. Hook is the name of a village in Hampshire but, given that Bray is believed to have come from Kent, 'Old Hook' here is more likely to refer to Old Hook Farm (which still exists) at Eastchurch near Sheerness. This is one of 73 drawings by Bray (plus one signed 'NF 1782') preserved in a 19th-century album. They have now been separately remounted. Bray (1750-1823), was second lieutenant of the 44-gun ‘Pallas’ under Captain the Hon. William Cornwallis (1744-1819) – later a well-known admiral – on two voyages (1774-77) to report on British interests in West Africa, including the slave trade. The dated drawings refer only to the first of these, from December 1774 to September 1775, though a few may be from the second. Others comprise country views, some of Deal, Kent (where Bray may have come from), and others of social-history interest.

Image Licence

CC BY-NC-ND

Image Credit

Location

Kent, England

Country

England

Medium

Watercolour