The Lledr Valley 

Here is a landscape painted by David Bates during the Victorian era, depicting a lone figure in the Lledr Valley. Bates was an English landscape painter, who came from a working class background. Notice how the fisherman is embedded within the scene. The figure is painted to blend in with the rocky river, almost absorbed by the landscape. In Victorian Britain, there was a growing divide between urban and rural life. As cities expanded, untouched landscapes were celebrated as an escape from industrial society, and a space for leisure. Fishing became a popular pastime in these idealized pastoral settings. However, this view obscures the realities of rural life and labor. The painting invites us to consider how concepts of leisure are often shaped by class distinctions. While the man is immersed in nature, what labor and social structures enable his ability to do so?