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Stanley Lewis:
The Welsh Farmer, 1953
Framed (ref: 2930)
Signed
Oil on canvas, 40 x 50 in. (101.6 x 127 in.)

Tags: Stanley Lewis oil farms/domestic animals work Lewis

Provenance: from the artist's own collection.
Exhibited: accepted for RA 1953 as The Welsh Farmer (not hung) ; The Unknown Artist: Stanley Lewis and his contemporaries, Cecil Higgins Art Gallery & Bedford Museum, 12th June - 5th September 2010..cat.no.74

Although titled The Welsh Farmer when selected for the 1953 Royal Academy Summer show Stanley always referred to this picture as The Cow Shed.  The boy is Stanley's youngest (7 year old) son Michael and his dog Bella; the artist's wife, Min, is seen in the background wheeling a milk church;  the  Farmer is Stephen Thomas who lived next door and helped with cows. The setting is Orchard House – an 18th century building with 300 acres of land of which Stanley and Min retained 15 acres which they ran as small farm.  As part of this Min, with Stephen Thomas's encouragement, turned the  Coach House into a Milk Parlour.

We made a nice little place – comfortable quarters and all that. Steven rigged her up nicely. Min bought a beautiful dairymaid’s ironed overall. She looked marvelous in it. The she bought a butter churn. A big thing with a handle. We have three  pedigree Ayrshire cows: Flox, Rosie and Sandra. They had lovely big horns because they weren’t dehorned then.