Branfill, Benjamin Aylett (Colonel), 1828-1899 :After a long day on the run. 1884

Shows the interior of a cottage belonging to a farmer or run-owner. The scene portrays a modest but comfortable setting, with the farmer sitting reading at his small table set with a blue and white table cloth, bread and butter, tea and milk. The man, whose hair and beard are red, wears a white shirt, green waistcoat and pale cuffed trousers. The floors and walls are bare timber, though there is a mat in front of the fireplace. A cat lies curled asleep on the mat, and a black and white sheep dog gazes at the kettle as it boils on the fire. Other symbols of work and home lie about the room, including an oil lamp on the mantelpiece, a brush and shovel on the hearth, and a horse's saddle and crop on the floor. A picture hangs on the wall, as does a cloth bag containing a long-neck bottle, probably for the farmer's long days away from the house. Through the open door into the lean-to can be seen a barrel, a saddle blanket and a woven basket filled with potatoes. Through the window of the lean-to is a glimpse of the garden outside.

This interior is possibly from a house in the Brook Valley area, where the artist lived

Source of title: artist's handwritten label on verso

Inscriptions: Recto - bottom left - B A Branfill 1884 [symbol] [in brushpoint]; Verso - top centre - [On a damaged plate attached to the back board]: Special form of endorsem[ents for pictu]res; Verso - centre - After a long day on the run painted by B A Branfill 1884 [in ink]

Quantity: 1 oil(s).

Physical Description: Oil on canvas on board, ca 360 x 450 mm (sight)

Provenance: One of a group of works by Branfill deaccessioned from the collections of the Suter Art Gallery, Nelson, ca 1975.