Renton, John (1770 – 1841) – The Flower Girl and the Harvesters.

This drawing shows a flower girl coming across a party of harvesters on the banks of a river. Bucolic scenes of harvesters and paintings of fresh faced country youths were popular at this date. But this particular subject, with its stong narative feel and interesting composition, is unusual. Renton's father was head gardiner for Conrad Loddiges at the famous plant nursery in Hackney (see the drawing of a flower girl by Renton in our 'Exhibition of British Works on Paper 2024)'. So, this scene may be somewhere on the River Lea.