Hackwood Park, Hampshire

Paul Sandby, 1731–1809

undated, exhibited 1764

Oil on canvas

Yale Center for British Art

A pastoral landscape depicts a sprawling estate in the distance, with figures and horses in the foreground and middle ground. The scene is bathed in soft, natural light under a cloudy sky. Only a handful of oil paintings by Sandby have been traced, making the four in this bay an opportune display. The other works are an early and ambitious topographical landscape (an unfinished view at Canterbury) and a pair of small, Italianate landscapes in the floor case. This prospect of Hackwood Park, the property of the Duke of Bolton, includes a view of the house in the distance and, in the foreground, harvesters resting from their labors. The fact they have time to sleep in the midday sun was Sandby's compliment to the liberality of the landowner, suggesting his estate is managed on humane and liberal principles. Yale Center f