Sedge Cutting in Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire - Early Morning, by Robert Walker Macbeth R.A., R.W.S., R.E., R.I., R.O.I. (1848-1910). 1878. Oil on canvas; 39 x 78½ inches (99 x 199.4 cm). Private collection. [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
This was the third picture of a trio of paintings Macbeth did commenting on rural labour and "the unpalatable consequences of rapid industrialization and unplanned urban grown, and the economic displacement of rural labour with the breakdown of traditional societal structures" (Esposito, The Idyllists, 140). Macbeth was particularly concerned about the exploitation of child labour. The first painting, A Lincolnshire Gang, was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1876, while the second was Potato Harvest in the Fens exhibited in 1877. Sedge Cutting in Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire was shown at the Royal Academy in 1878, no. 1016, and was accompanied in the exhibition catalogue by these lines: "Sedge cutting is one of the remnants of a Fen industry, and Wicken Fen the only remaining portion of a great fen district in which the sedge has free growth. This fen is now reduced to a small acreage by man and his agricultural improvements." In the late 19th century Wicken Fen was home to a thriving sedge-harvesting community, members of which Macbeth has portrayed in this painting. Sedge was cut and used for thatching material as well as for fuel and kindling. Patches of sedge were harvested every three to four years in a patchwork of field strips. A variety of plant and wildlife species thrived in this environment. In Macbeth's painting men and women can be seen cutting, binding, and stacking the sedge they have harvested on a cart. Two young women huddle against the cold by the cart waiting to load additional stacks of sedge. A young man to their right struggles with the bunch of sedge he has just cut with his scythe. The workers are bundled up against the cold and damp when working in the grey misty environment of early morning.
Closer views of the two women on the left.
A critic for The Magazine of Art felt this series was painted by Macbeth out of his concern for rural labourers: "Mr. R. W. Macbeth paints a picturesque, but sad and unhealthy, life of rural England, with something apparently of a philanthropic intention. His Lincolnshire Gangs of two years ago, and more cheerful Potato Harvest of last year, are followed by Sedge Cutting in Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire, in which he shows the labourers wan and weak with the fever and ague generated in that country of bog in water; his color, as usual, is rich and harmonious" (105-06).
The Art Journal compared this work to his Idyllist colleagues: "Another important work in this room is R. W. Macbeth's Sedge Cutting in Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire (1016), under an effect of early morning. The fine way in which Mr. Macbeth catches whatever is noble in the build and action of a peasant's form is worthy of Mason, Walker, or Pinwell (180). The Builder failed to be impressed with Macbeth's submission: "We fear Mr. Macbeth's large work, Sedge-cutting in Wicken Fen (1016), will hardly do; there is power in it, but it is unreal and theatrical, and the man on the right is absurdly, tall, measured by the size of his head" (504).
The reviewer for The Spectator, however, felt this was the finest subject picture in the Royal Academy that year:
No. 1016, by R. W. Macbeth, a picture of Sedge-cutting in the Fens, is probably the best subject picture of the whole exhibition; and in saying this, we should like to define clearly what are the chief characteristics of a good subject picture: – That it should be of some subject which possesses more than a temporary interest, that should be a subject which combines in itself some pictorial attractiveness with its other interest, that its beauty should be thoroughly represented, and its actions clearly explained, – such, not to go into the matter in any detail, does, we think, form a roughly accurate description of a worthy subject picture. All these requirements Mr. Macbeth's work absolutely fulfills. It represents a local industry now rapidly becoming extinct, and of which it is highly desirable a worthy record should be preserved. [796]
Closer view of the man with the scythe.
The Spectator reviewer also praised the work for its artistic qualities: "It represents a scene of considerable pictorial interest, and represents it worthily, with good painting and grace of action and composition; and lastly, the figures and their work are clearly and unmistakeably suited to one another, and the actors in the picture do not look like dressed-up ladies and gentlemen or weary models," admitting that the composition had "many minor faults," but choosing not to dwell on them, but instead "to close our Academy notices with a hearty and deserved word of unmitigated praise" (796).
Bibliography
"Art. The Royal Academy." The Spectator LI (22 June 1878): 795-96.
Esposito, Donato. Frederick Walker and the Idyllists. London: Lund Humphries, 2017. See Chapter 6, 140-44.
"More About the Academy Pictures." The Builder XXXVI (18 May 1878): 503-04.
"The Royal Academy." The Magazine of Art I (1878): 101-06.
"The Royal Academy Exhibition." The Art Journall New Series XVII (1878): 177-80.
Created 1 June 2023