David Brown Milne 1882 - 1953

Mellors Fine Arts, Toronto

Estate of E.R. Hunter, West Palm Beach, Florida

During his years in the Adirondacks (1924-1929), Milne's painting production sagged noticeably. This was due in part to his not selling paintings except to or through his friend James Clarke in New York, and partly because most of his energy was directed to building a cottage at Big Moose in the summers and running Ski-T, a tea house at the foot of the ski-jump at Lake Placid, in the winters.

Occasional painting sessions occurred despite the distractions and several brilliant canvases emerged out of what was otherwise an extended slump in Milne's career. Painting Place (several versions), Outlet of the Pond, Across the Lake, North Elba, and Corner of the House – all except the last later drypoint subjects – were among them. These major works were topped off by the creation of Early Morning, a small gem of a canvas, done just a few months before Milne returned permanently to Canada in 1929.

This arrangement of a tea-pot, a lantern, a coffee pot, a vase, a plate, and an open book with a reproduction of Peter Paul Rubens's Le Chapeau de Paille (The Straw Hat) in London's National Gallery, is scintillating with its gray, black, and white values (as Milne called them), white highlights, and its sparing but effective use of three colours – mauve, a rusty orange, and mustard. In sensibility, as well as subject matter, it is like a Giorgio Morandi in a higher key. The Rubens is Milne's homage to the traditions of art to which he was making his own contribution.

The title he gave is odd and perhaps only refers to the time of day he saw and was inspired by this humble collection of objects, and turned them into an enchanting and endlessly pleasing masterpiece.