GEORGE MORLAND (BRITISH 1762/63-1804)
Heading home, the cockle pickers
initialed (lower right)
oil on canvas
71 x 91 cm

George Morland was the eldest son of Henry Robert Morland (c.1719-1797), a painter and engraver. At the age of fourteen the son started his official seven-year apprenticeship with his father, having studied since early childhood.
Unlike his contemporaries, Morland did not adhere to the tradition of seeking patronage, preferring to sell his work through dealers and print publishers. His early paintings concentrated on moralising and domestic genre scenes, which were widely dispersed by the popular print market.

In 1790 Morland moved to the rural village of Paddington where he remained until 1794. This was probably the most stable period of his life, and marked a change in his choices of subject matter. It was during this period that Morland produced his most important pictures, exhibiting Inside of a Stable in 1791 (no. 58, now in the Tate collection) which gained great critical acclaim.