Yale Center for British Art

Creator:
John Linnell, 1792–1882, British
Title:
Hanson Toot, View in Dovedale
Date:
1815, reworked, 1846, 1854, and 1870
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
24 1/2 x 35 1/2 inches (62.2 x 90.2 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Signed and dated, lower right: "JLinnel. | 1846.54 | - [...]"
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1981.25.426
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Subject Terms:
stone | stonework | wall | rural | buildings | hills | mountains | boy | girl | children | agriculture | farming | women | path | paths | cottages | road | landscape | sheep | cows | livestock
Associated Places:
Europe | Derbyshire | England | United Kingdom
Currently On View:
On view
Exhibition History:
In a New Light: 500 Years of British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2025-04-01 - 2026-01-30)

English Romanticism (Center Gallery, Bucknell University, 1990-02-24 - 1990-04-08)

Painting in England 1700-1850 - From The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon (Yale University Art Gallery, 1965-04-15 - 1965-06-20)
Publications:
Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, p. 148, 149, N590.2 .A83 (YCBA)

Evan R. Firestone, John Linnell, English Artist: Works, Patrons, and Dealers [PhD Dissertation, The University of Wisconsin ], ProQuest, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1971, p. x, 87, No. 58, Film B98 YCBA

David Linnell, Blake, Palmer, Linnell & Co. : The Life of John Linnell, Book Guild, Sussex, 1994, p. 357, No. 43, NJ18 L658 L55 1994 OVERSIZE (YCBA)

Painting in England 1700-1850 from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, The Royal Academy of Arts Winter Exhibition 1964-65., , Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK, 1964, p. 47 (v.1), no. 171, N5220.M45 R69 1964 (YCBA)

Alfred Thomas Story, Life of John Linnell, Richard Bentley and Son, London, 1892, p. 97 (vol. 1), 261(vol.2), NJ18 L658 S76 1892 (YCBA)

Yale University Art Gallery, Painting in England, 1700-1850, from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon : [exhibition at] Yale University Art Gallery, April 15-June 20, 1965, , vol. 1, W. Clowes and sons, New Haven, 1965, p. 34 (v.1), no. 122, ND466 Y35 (YCBA)
Gallery Label:
Linnell once wrote that he “lived to paint poetical landscapes,” such as this view of Hanson Toot, a mountain in Derbyshire. The laborers who worked the land were as important to his paintings as the land itself. After moving from London to rural Surrey later in life, he began to depict the tenant farmers on his own property, using the land for agriculture while drawing artistic inspiration from it. Linnell returned to this canvas throughout his career, retouching it every time it changed hands, and made his final alterations at the age of seventy-eight. Taking pride in his productivity, he recorded the dates of his revisions on the bottom right of the picture. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2025
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:910