Pastoral Scene in Herefordshire 1823

David Cox made this watercolour, *Pastoral Scene in Herefordshire*, sometime in the first half of the 19th century. It presents a rural idyll: shepherds rest as sheep graze in a lush and fertile landscape in the English county of Herefordshire. Cox's chosen subject matter is telling. His focus on the countryside, with its evocation of a pre-industrial, simpler way of life, responds to the rapid urbanisation and industrialisation of Britain at the time. Herefordshire was an agricultural county, and Cox’s choice of this place signals an engagement with the cultural politics of the period. The image romanticises rural life and the working classes. But we can also interpret it as a subtle critique of the social and economic changes associated with the industrial revolution. By studying the artist’s personal history, letters, and the contemporary exhibition reviews, we can better understand the painting and the artist’s place in the rapidly changing society in which he lived.