Oil Painting of a Rural Family Returning Home by J.O. Banks

#18245: Oil Painting of a Rural Family Returning Home by J.O. Banks
By Banks, J.O. (English, fl. 1856–1873)
English, 19th century
Canvas: height 63cm, width 93cm, depth 2cm
Frame: height 88cm, width 107cm, depth 7cm
This rural scene by the English painter J.O. Banks shows a family gathered on a country lane at the end of the day. A man in a hat and red waistcoat sits on a grey working horse, leaning down to lift a small child in a green dress from the arms of a young woman in a pink jacket and headscarf, who looks up at him. A chestnut horse stands behind them, harnessed with chains.
At the left, a second young woman rests against a bank with a sheaf of corn, while a girl in a red-spotted headscarf stands beside her holding a basket and jug; a stoneware flagon and a red bundle are set down on the track. At the right, a dog bounds forward across the lane. Beyond the group, a pollarded tree and a rough fence mark the roadside, and the land falls away to an open landscape under a wide sky touched with the colours of sunset.
The painting is executed in oil on canvas, signed lower right, 'J.O. Banks', and is presented in a giltwood frame. The reverse carries the colourman's stencil, Regent Street, London.
$52,500