Floating Grocery
1810
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
1810
paint
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Dominant colour
Floating Grocery is a 1810 paint by Unknown, a Romanticism work, depicting Water Transport, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This painting shows a floating grocery on a river, with food and other items for sale. It's part of a set of 50 paintings depicting different types of boats on the Pearl River. The fact that it was mass-produced as a souvenir item is interesting, as it suggests that scenes like this were popular among visitors to the area. To learn more about this type of artwork, look up the technique of chiaroscuro.
This rectangular painting depicts a floating grocery boat on the Pearl River, identifiable by its large rectangular cabin and shop-front stern displaying brightly colored goods. The scene includes food items such as pork, rice, and fruit, as well as cooking stoves, joss sticks, and paper ingots. The artwork was part of a set of 50 mass-produced images sold as souvenirs, illustrating the variety of boats that crowded the river. Lord George Macartney’s 18th-century account described the Pearl River as densely packed with vessels of all sizes, many of which served as floating homes or shops.
Read the full account in the museum source.
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