A Summerland 1829

David Lucas made this mezzotint print, "A Summerland," sometime in the nineteenth century. The title evokes a notion of earthly paradise, a respite from daily hardship. But this is no unpeopled Eden. Look closely, and you'll see a farmer at work, plowing the fields with a horse-drawn plow. In 19th-century Britain, rural life was changing dramatically. The Enclosure Acts privatized common land, displacing many agricultural workers. At the same time, technological innovations like the mechanized plow transformed the nature of farm labor. Lucas’s image perhaps idealizes rural life even as it reflects this changing social and economic landscape. Is this England's promised land, or does the print reveal the changing conditions of work at the height of the Industrial Revolution? As historians, we investigate such questions through careful visual analysis, historical research, and an awareness of the institutions that shape artistic production and reception.