3-078-033 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours: "The Vintage," Medoc - Robert W. Allan, 1890. Engraving of a painting. 'We referred last week to the claims of several works to especial notice, and we are glad, therefore, to bring some of the more important more distinctly before our readers...Of Mr. R. W. Allan's "Vintage" in Medoc we spoke at length last week. He is one of the few members of the Old Society who seem anxious to break with its traditions, and to bring back the influence of a broader style. The leading defect of the work, in our eyes, is that the subject is not more clearly presented to the eye. There is nothing in the arrangement of the groups or in their accessories which recalls grape-gathering more than hop-picking or potato-gathering. The distinctive features of a vintage - the treading of the grapes, the purple-stained vats - are sought for in vain, and there is nothing in the action or grouping of the vendangers which distinguishes them from northern folk and their sedate habits. Nevertheless, we are bound to admit that in other respects the work is full of good points, and is suggestive of much latent power, which hitherto has manifested itself among Scottish scenes and people with considerable credit to the painter'. From "Illustrated London News", 1890.