Our Village

Artist Sir Hubert von Herkomer (Waal, Germany, 1849 - 1914)

Date1890

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationsPaintings And Drawings

DimensionsOverall: Height: 173 cm, Width: 237 cm
Frame: Height: 218 cm, Width: 281 cm

AcquisitionPresented in 1927 by Sir James Murray.

CopyrightOut of copyright - CC0

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDAG002745

Keywords

Townscape

About MeBorn the only child of a woodcarver in Bavaria, Hubert von Herkomer emigrated with his family first to America in 1851, then to England in 1857, where they survived on the income from his mother's piano teaching. In 1885 Herkomer moved to Bushey in Hertfordshire, where he lived in Lululaund, a mansion with studios and workshop which had been designed for him.

This huge painting was completed five years later and depicts the village green of Bushey. Although by now a wealthy man, Herkomer never forgot his poverty-
stricken youth, and his favoured subject was, as here, the working people whom he saw around him. On such a massive scale they are seen as heroic and noble figures.

Herkomer was also a talented and sought-after portraitist and amongst his sitters were Tennyson, Ruskin and Richard Wagner. He was also for a time Slade Professor of Art at Oxford University. It is for his grand depictions of ordinary life, however, that he is today best remembered.