Swineherd

George Morland is best known for his rustic genre scenes. Depictions of ordinary people and things have been quite popular since the 17th century under the influence of contemporary Dutch and Flemish painters who were the first to make everyday life an artistic theme. This tradition of genre paintings is well known in England because many Flemish and Dutch painters worked in England in the 17th century. These paintings inspired 18th- and 19th-century British painters in the choice of their subjects. Morland came into direct contact with paintings, especially landscapes, by these old Dutch and Flemish masters at an early age. From the age of fourteen to twenty-one, Morland helped out in his father's practice where such paintings were restored and sold. His love of rural everyday life was stimulated by his many stays in the countryside. In The Boar Keeper we see a daily activity from rural life at the time. The scene is depicted in all its simplicity. The composition is simple and clear, as in Morland's other works, and the colours are warm. The painting appears to have been made in a short space of time and is not very elaborate.