A Border Leicester Ewe 1795 - 1800

Curator: The sheep appears almost heroic, wouldn't you agree? Editor: Oddly, yes! Standing alone against that turbulent sky... I feel a kind of… stoic presence. Is it another allegorical read? Curator: Well, let's consider James Ward’s, "A Border Leicester Ewe," likely painted between 1795 and 1800. Ward was known for elevating animal portraiture; think of Stubbs and his horses. In that light, does our heroic sheep speak to emergent ideas? Editor: Yes! The late 18th century. Industrial Revolution transforms rural England. Sheep are literally ‘fleecing’ the country of their resources. Is Ward subtly romanticizing agricultural life disrupted by progress? I find a very charged landscape tradition at work. Curator: Absolutely. Look at the specificity of the breed. Border Leicesters were prized for their wool. Could Ward be representing an ideal of pastoral England? Perhaps nostalgia for pre-industrial purity? Editor: Nostalgia mixed with unease, I think. The animal has such incredible substance. The contrast between this single animal with the storm, suggests the fragile harmony between society and nature… Curator: Indeed. In older symbolism, sheep often represent innocence, meekness and sacrifice. Against the socio-political backdrop, I am fascinated to interpret if that symbology translates into quiet endurance. Does Ward suggest these older icons were fading in real life? Editor: I hadn't considered that older association, but I like that. A commentary, perhaps, on the burden carried by the working classes in a changing world. That powerful sky presses down… the ewe perseveres, solid, unmoving. Curator: See, and in other contexts we could read such natural symbology, for example turbulent clouds, and landscapes, and infer those traditional messages with something akin to fear or a certain melancholy for a lost world… It depends on one’s cultural vantage point… I appreciate how Ward presents many possibilities. Editor: It's all wonderfully ambiguous and richly symbolic. I’ll never look at a sheep the same way again.