Oil paint on canvas
Surrey
Tate Britain
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on display
Joseph Mallord William Turner
Turner Bequest
Oil paintings
Collection
Turner owned by Tate
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/joseph-mallord-william-turner-558" aria-label="More by Joseph Mallord William Turner" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Joseph Mallord William Turner</a>
Harvest Dinner Kingston Bank
Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856
actions: processes and functions
adults
agriculture and fishing
autumn
bank
boat - non-specific
eating
eating and drinking
England
England, South East
England, Southern
farm labourer
group
groups
Kingston
leisure and pastimes
man
natural phenomena
people
places
reflection
river
River Thames
seasons
society
Surrey
transport: water
UK counties
UK countries and regions
UK London
UK natural features
washing / drying
water: inland
woman
work and occupations
<p>The ‘dinner’ here is no feast. Five adults, one of whom cradles a baby, share one small basket of food on a hot late summer day. Turner had sketched these people at Kingston-upon-Thames in 1805, possibly from a boat on the river. Like in other paintings he made, Turner draws attention to the hardship faced by labourers. He may have intended its title to be ironic – for harvest is a time of plenty for all except those whose labour is exploited for profit. When this painting was first exhibited in Turner’s own London gallery it was admired by younger artists John Sell Cotman and David Cox, who made pencil drawings of it.</p><p><em>Gallery label, October 2023</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
30 July 2001 – 23 June 2002
2002-06-23
30 July 2001 – 23 June 2002
2002-06-23
2001-07-30
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-07-30
Painting the English Landscape
Collection based display
19 August 2002 – 27 April 2003
2003-04-27
19 August 2002 – 27 April 2003
2003-04-27
2002-08-19
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2002-08-19
Outdoor Sketching
Collection based display
20 April 2009 – 4 October 2009
2009-10-04
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2009-04-20
William Blake: The 1809 Exhibition
Collection based display
22 July 2013 – 28 June 2014
2014-06-28
22 July 2013 – 22 September 2013
2013-09-22
2013-07-22
Compton Verney (Compton Verney, UK)
5 October 2013 – 5 January 2014
2014-01-05
2013-10-05
Turner Contemporary (Margate, UK)
1 March 2014 – 28 June 2014
2014-06-28
2014-03-01
Laing Art Gallery (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK)
http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/
2013-07-22
Capturing British Landscape in the age of Turner and Constable
Loan-out
13 November 2017 – 4 March 2018
2018-03-04
13 November 2017 – 4 March 2018
2018-03-04
2017-11-13
The Lightbox (Woking, UK)
http://www.thelightbox.org/
2017-11-13
Pastoral Elegance: Turner in Surrey
Loan-out
13 March 2023
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2023-03-13
Gallery 104
Collection based display
Harvest Dinner, Kingston Bank
support: 902 × 1210 mm
frame: 1365 × 1680 × 175 mm
Accepted by the nation as part of the <a href="/search?gid=999999781" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Turner Bequest</a> 1856
<div class="text">
<p>The ‘dinner’ here is no feast. Five adults, one of whom cradles a baby, share one small basket of food on a hot late summer day. Turner had sketched these people at Kingston-upon-Thames in 1805, possibly from a boat on the river. Like in other paintings he made, Turner draws attention to the hardship faced by labourers. He may have intended its title to be ironic – for harvest is a time of plenty for all except those whose labour is exploited for profit. When this painting was first exhibited in Turner’s own London gallery it was admired by younger artists John Sell Cotman and David Cox, who made pencil drawings of it.</p>
</div>

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2023-10-25T00:00:00
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DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>90. </b>[<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-harvest-dinner-kingston-bank-n00491" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00491</span></a>]<b> Harvest Dinner, Kingston Bank</b> Exh. 1809
<br/>
<br/>THE TATE GALLERY, LONDON (491)
<br/>Canvas, 35 1/2 × 47 5/8 (90 × 121)
<br/>Signed ‘... MW Tur...’ bottom right</p>
<p><b>Coll.</b> Turner Bequest 1856 (14, ‘Kingston Bank’ 4'0" × 3'0"'); transferred to the Tate Gallery 1919.</p>
<p><b>Exh.</b> Turner's gallery 1809 (10); Turner's gallery 1810 (5, ‘Harvest Dinner’); Turner's gallery 1835; Tate Gallery 1931 (43); on loan to the National Museum of Wales 1964–85.</p>
<p><b>Engr.</b> By Turner for the <i>Liber Studiorum</i>, R. 87, but not published (repr. Finberg 1924, p. 348; the preliminary pen and sepia drawing from the Vaughan Bequest, CXVIII-W, repr. <i>loc. cit.</i>).</p>
<p><b>Lit.</b> Thornbury 1862, i, p. 295; N. Neal Solly, <i>Memoir of the Life of David Cox</i>, 1863, pp. 28–9; Thornbury</p>
<p>1877, p. 431; Armstrong 1902, p. 224; Finberg 1924, p. 349; S.D. Kitson, <i>Life of John Sell Cotman</i> 1937, p. 129; Davies 1946, p. 185; H.F. Finberg 1951, pp. 384–5; Finberg 1961, pp. 471 no. 137, 512 no. 157e; Rothenstein and Butlin 1964, p. 24.</p>
<p></p>
<p>When it was shown in Turner's gallery in 1809 this picture was the subject of a furtive copy in <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/g/graphite" title="Glossary definition for 'Graphite'"><span>pencil</span></a> by Cotman. The same exhibition was presumably the occasion for David Cox's <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawing</span></a> from memory, done as part of a lesson given to Lady Arden. ‘No drawing <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/paper" title="Glossary definition for 'Paper'"><span>paper</span></a> could be found at the time, except the cover of a piece of music, but on this Cox made a small but charming and delicate drawing, very like the “Kingston Bank” in arrangement and colour ... the original <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> by Turner is quiet in <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/t/tone" title="Glossary definition for 'Tone'"><span>tone</span></a>, and Cox's drawing is perhaps rather more sunny. The figures, especially that of a lad stooping down with his head close to the water to drink, are admirably given.’ The drawing, which later belonged to Cox's son, is unfortunately untraced. (See Solly, <i>loc. cit.</i>)
<br/>
<br/>The picture does not seem to have attracted critical attention when it was exhibited in 1809. In 1835, however, this picture was one of ‘the few of Mr. Turner's splendid paintings that enrich the walls of his gallery’ where they were seen and described by the critic of the <i>Spectator</i> for 26 April 1835. After discussing <i>Frosty Morning</i> (No. 127 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-frosty-morning-n00492" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N00492</span></a>]) he goes on, ‘What a contrast does it present to this river-scene at harvest-time! It does not need the man stooping to wash his face, to convey an idea of the sultry heat of a summer morn. Nothing can be more simple that this <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a>; nor more broad, quiet, and true than its effect.’ For an oil sketch see No. 160 [<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-sketch-for-harvest-dinner-kingston-bank-n02696" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N02696</span></a>].</p>
<p>
<br/><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, <i>The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner</i>, revised ed., New Haven and London 1984
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-22T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: processes and functions adults agriculture and fishing autumn bank boat - non-specific eating eating and drinking England England, South East England, Southern farm labourer group groups Kingston leisure and pastimes man natural phenomena people places reflection river River Thames seasons society Surrey transport: water UK counties UK countries and regions UK London UK natural features washing / drying water: inland woman work and occupations