MWW Artwork of the Day (12/29/22) John Crome (British, 1768-1821) Blacksmith's Shop near Hingham, Norfolk (c. 1808) Oil on canvas, 154 x 121.9 cm. The Philadelphia Museum of Art (John Howard McFadden Collection)
Crome’s early masterpiece "The Blacksmith's Shop near Hingham" shows the tumbledown shack thrown up against the side of a thatched cottage used by the blacksmith for the villages of Hingham and Hardingham, each about twelve miles southwest of Norwich. To the left, the smithy sharpens a tool at a grindstone; family members and perhaps assistants mill around the shop. The dense, full foliage of the trees, and the blue, silver-clouded sky indicate a scene in midsummer; the whole breathes an air of intense stillness on a warm afternoon in the deep country. In the foreground two ducks float on a pond. Crome used the motif of the shop in picturesque dilapidation set against a verdant landscape to create one whole and harmonious melding of shapes, tones, and textures.
For more of this artist's work, see this MWW gallery/album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2373166989455323&type=3
