Peckham Rye 1826

Andrew Geddes made this plate print called ‘Peckham Rye’. Geddes was a Scottish portrait painter and etcher, and his work provides insight into the Romantic era’s fascination with the relationship between the human spirit and the natural world. The print illustrates a pastoral scene with a small bridge, a building, trees, and figures set against a flat landscape. But look more closely, what story does this landscape tell? Who populates this world, and what labor is being done? Is this the promised simplicity of rural life or does it hint at something else? The contrast between the rough etching style and the gentrified subject invites reflection on class and labor within the romanticized countryside. Landscapes like these often obscure the realities of rural life. This piece leaves you wondering about the unacknowledged figures within the landscape.