Werk! An’ a mean that in t’most yorkshire way possible.
Reet today we gunna ‘ave a quick look at Work by Ford Maddox Brown which is a paintin’ a ‘ad to look at in art school baht 15 year ago so lets see if a can remember any o’ that
T’main thing ‘bowt this paintin is t’perspective o’ it as it starts in t’foreground at t’bottom usually wi’ t’lass in foreground but lets start wi’ dogs cuz we all love a dog dunt we
F’st off we got a lil brown whippet ina coit which is t’most yorkshire thing it could ‘ave in it init, then its got what looks to me like a lil jack russel and another type of terrier to t’far right. All of ‘em r dogs associated wi’ t’werkin class like f’rattin or f’racin athlo them at t’end is also associated with fox huntin so its swings n rowndabowts reely init
Nar lets not lig on t’dogs more than that cuz there in’t much more to say on ‘em so will move on. As we move up we see a lass wi’ younger bairns - ‘er ‘air is short an ‘er dress is loosened at the back suggestin that she is probs doin’ s3x w0rk n is borrowin clothes too grown up for ‘er. Also Les Mis came out in 1862 which is 3 year before this paintin’ wa’ done in 1865 so ppl will now know tha’ she might ‘ave sold ‘er ‘air to keep ‘er siblings goin’
A younger lass keeps close to ‘er while she grabs ‘er brother whos prattin’ ‘bowt by t‘air which says ‘ee might be tryin’ to tealeaf that wheelbarra’ ratha than be werkin. T’lass is holdin’ a wee baby that some says is wearin’ a black armband but it looks more like a part o’ t’dress
Level wi’ them but t’reet are some ppl layin along t’side o’ ‘ill ‘oo r apparently Irish but there i’nt owt that tells us they r Irish now but a imagine in 1800s seein’ unemployed ppl layin’ down wud fit in wi’ t’anti-Irish & t’anti-immigrant sentiment so u wud just assume white werkin’ class ppl wi’ no job were Irish
In fact it were exactly that that got t’paintin’ funded cuz some posh protestant prick from ‘ere in Leeds wan’ed it to show “the virtues of the protestant work ethic”, which would mean anyone bein’ lazy in it woulda been catholic an’ that woulda been short’and f’Irish back then an’ even nar by some o’ t’flag shaggers
Luckily ‘ee popped ‘is cloggs before ‘ee could get ‘old o’ it an’ parade it round like the daft apeth ‘ee obvs wa’ but anyway back t’ t’painting itsen
Even further reet is a woman gettin’ arrested f’sellin’ oranges owt o’ a basket an’ t’oranges r spillin’ owt cuz ‘ees pushin’ ‘er ‘bowt like t’bobbies do shownin’ us that even when u try to be a grafter u can’t win but if u look then t’far left u see a woman sellin’ flowers or ‘erbs owt a basket but ‘er ‘at is coverin’ ‘alf ‘er face which tells us she’s tryna keep a low profile so as not to attract t’same fate as t’orange seller
At t’centre o’ t’paintin we got tradies depicted in all their muscly an’ sweaty glory. Big muscular men layin’ pipe. Thats wha’ t’main view of the paintin is. T’ me knowledge Brown weren’t queer at all but this scene dunt ‘alf gimme ‘omoerotic vibes but maybe thas part o’ it - sexin up t’workin classes f’girls an’ gays who go round t’galleries in 1800s. What an’ ally!
It also brings us back to that “virtuous protestant work ethic” 🙄 t’rest o’ scene frames t’tradies in a nice lil rectangle which annoys the shit outta me now av sin it cuz t’paintin itsen is in an arc shape
Nah wun else from any o’ other classes is in that lil rectangle which is a sign its tryna highlight that virtuous protestant work ethic. Am also a bit concerned that most o’ men its holdin’ up ‘ere r a bit arian wi their blonde hair n blue eyes but back to t’framin’ - this is inspired by William ‘ogarth’s propaganda paintings an’ illustrations against t’workin classes such as Beer Street & Gin Lane where u can see t’figures ‘e wants to ‘ighlight like t’mam droppin ‘er baby cuz she’s so pissed on t’gin (literally mother’s ruin shown here) being framed centrally by ‘er surroundin’s
Brown is also takin’ inspiration from paintin’s in Naples an’ Italy showin’ werkin’ classes in an epic way and ‘ee wan’ed to prove that we could do it ‘ere in Bri’ain cuz apparently William ‘ogarth & David Wilkie, to name just 2, weren’t doin’ it right i guess? Well i suppose as i already said ‘ogarth’s art was more propaganda than owt else
Movin’ on, theres a ‘ole ‘istory an’ culture to these specific tradies tho cuz they was called “Navvies” which were short f’navigational engineer an’ if u wanna know more u can go look it up ur sen
T’reason t’pipes is gettin’ done is cuz cholera an’ typhus was rampant at the time an’ it ‘ad been f’a couple o’ decades so it was becomin’ part o’ t’country’s narrative. Eventually t’government realised rich ppl was gettin’ affected an’ t’worforce was gettin’ depleted so decided to commission a study on sanitation in t’country an’ realised they needed better sanitation so the rich weren’t havin’ to be the ones takin’ on that virtuous protestant work ethic themselves an’ t’workforce weren’t gettin’ wiped out
Anyway slightleh above and to t’left o’ t’tradies we see some middle class women in a line behind t’flower seller creatin’ some sorta Two Ronnies/March of Progress imagery goin’ on ‘ere. T’woman in t’red dress is givin’ lower middle class while t’woman in t’green coart behind her is givin’ upper middle class cuz she can obvs afford more patterned clothes which was more expensive back then
On t’opposite side o’ paintin’ is some middle class men feelin’ superior as they watch everythin’ unfold wi’ one of ‘em shootin’ a knowin’ look at the other one but it could also be to the viewer dependin’ on where u woulda been stood viewin’ it from. Both happen to be real life figures they were both leadin’ fellas in christian socialist theory, Thomas Carlyle & F.D. Maurice, which makes sense given t’paintin’ was supposed to be shoutin’ “the virtues of the protestant work ethic”
Slightly to t’left o’ them is some protesters which links to Carlysle’s writin’ as they are advertisin’ f’one o’ ‘is corrupt characters tellin’ ppl to vote for ‘im for mayor or whatevs
Finally, at t’top o’ paintin’ we got t’gentry up on their ‘igh ‘orses literally! They is also in the shade an’ if u look around the paintin’ u will see the only other ppl to be in t’shade is them apparently Irish immigrants who aren’t werkin’ so what Brown is tellin’ us is that they aren’t part of that “virtuous protestant work ethic” whether thats cuz the gentry are catholic or cuz the gentry don’t werk u can take ur pick i guess
The paintin’ as an ‘ole tho dunt really come down on t’side o’ werkers or t’gentry its much more neutral than ‘ogarth’s f’example an’ its probs why i like it so much as it does just feel way more like a snapshot of the class & werk divide in t’country at t’time despite its propagandist origins
A ‘ope u enjoyed this experiment o’ writin’ in a yorkshire accent cuz a really wanna reclaim me original accent befooer university beat it owt o’ me
Also this ‘ad fuck all to do wi’ owt trans or queer i just wan’ed to write ‘bowt it cuz a like it an’ a realised a can do that cuz a can do what a like
