Samuel Palmer and The Shearers

'The Shearers' (1833-34) by Samuel Palmer; Private Collection

I had never heard of British visionary landscape painter Samuel Palmer, born on 27 January 1805 and died on 24 May 1881, until today. He was a key figure of English Romantic landscape painting and a pupil and friend of William Blake. He treated his landscapes as visions of paradise (click here to see more of his paintings). After 1835, this visionary quality disappeared and his later paintings were done in a more conventional pastoral mode. Today's painting 'The Shearers' had been in the news in 2009 when the Culture Minister issued an export ban on the painting in a last attempt to raise money to keep the painting in the UK. According to the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, 'The Shearers' was so closely connected with the history of the UK that it would be considered a great loss if the painting would leave the country. The recommended price for purchase was 3,800,000 pound sterling. Eventually the painting came into possession of private London art dealer and adviser Richard Nathanson. I think the painting is beautiful and everybody can see that the yellow colour and the light is stunning. For further reading on the painting, click here.