Alexander Mann, R.O.I.

Christie's, Edinburgh, 31 October 2002, lot 104;
The Fine Art Society, February 1987;
Messums Gallery, London;
Private collection

Royal Glasgow Institute, 1890, no.568 as 'The Harvest Field'

The canvas is unlined. there is craquelure apparent in parts - mainly to the sky and upper quadrant where the has been some infilling. Under UV light minimal infilling is apparent and some light washing in parts. The painting is well presented in a gilt composition frame and ready to hang.
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Dated 1889, The Gleaners was most probably produced whilst Mann was living with his family in Berkshire. The 1880s saw many artists turning their back on modernity and rediscovering the virtues of rural living. For Mann, this extended beyond the physical landscape to include its inhabitants and the nature of their life working the land. The present work depicts a young family gleaning, in which leftover crops are collected from a farmer’s field. A laborious process, gleaning rescues food that would otherwise be left to rot, and it is perhaps this wholesome nature of the process that attracted Mann. Here we see the whole family – from children, parents and even a baby together in the fields, while sheaves of wheat stretch far away into the distance lending depth to the picture space. The scene is bathed in sunshine, the sentiment is both nostalgic and romanticised.

Gleaning was a popular subject matter in France throughout the 19^th century, most notably with Jean-François Millet. The realism of Millet along with that of Jules Bastien-Lepage, had a profound impact on Scottish art of the late 19^th century, especially the Glasgow Boys with which Mann was closely associated. The group sought to capture rural scenes around Scotland, whilst moving against the Scottish art establishment of Edinburgh. The present work exemplifies this aim and displays the exceptional quality of Mann’s realism, echoing the work of British artists such as George Clausen and Henry Herbert LaTangue.