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Subject matches "Agricultural labourers" or its children
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Gathering Stones
McGregor, Robert, Oil painting
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Gathering Stones
Gathering Stones
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Museums & Galleries Item
Item no
21126
Title
Gathering Stones
Description
The painting shows three women clearing a field of stones prior to ploughing and planting of crops. The women are bent over in this backbreaking work, with a focused concentration on their immense task. The vast landscape stretches out beyond the women in to the background. One of the women in the foreground carries a basket as she bends over double. Another woman walks with a cane, away from the viewer. A great sense of monotony is reflected in the flat landscape and the sombre colours used by the artist. The only colour to stand out is the red scarf of one figure and the rich blue skirt of another.
Artist / maker
McGregor, Robert
Size
68.7 x 127.1cm
Type
Oil painting
Location
City Art Centre
Accession number
CAC61/1964
These women were Bondagers, female agricultural labourers who worked on Scottish Borders farms. At a Hiring Fairs, a male worker was hired on condition that he had a female worker with him. If he could not offer his wife or other female relative to fill the role, he had to hire a woman himself. This took place at usually at the Hiring Fair. She was then his responsibility to house, feed and pay a minimal wage to for the coming year.
Influenced by contemporary Dutch and French artists, McGregor lived and worked in Edinburgh but travelled much of Britain and France recording what he saw in a tonal style. McGregor's affinity with the temperate and natural style of the Dutch School can be seen in this work.
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Agricultural labourers
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