Trowse Meadows, near Norwich

A pupil of John Crome, George Vincent sent his first painting to the Royal Academy of Arts in 1814. After moving to London in 1817, he exhibited extensively both in the capital and in Norwich. Financial problems beset him and he was imprisoned in the Fleet, the debtors' prison, between 1824 and 1827. This sunny harvest scene was painted the year after Vincent was released from prison. Looking over Trowse Meadows towards Whitlingham, near Norwich, the painting shows the progression of hay being cut and stacked at the far right and loaded onto a wagon in the centre. The treatment of the trees and the spectacular cloud formation, lit by an invisible sun, are all features associated with the best of Vincent's late work.