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Pitlessie Fair This multi-figured rustic composition is divided into three broad horizontal bands. The foreground is composed of many small groups of adults and children in various activities. People chat, eat, drink, barter, play, fight, etc. The general feeling of familiarity pervades. Livestock and domestic animals intermingle among the groups. In the visual center, a tent-like structure is set up. Underneath, a woman faces a group of four well-dressed figures. In the middle ground, a band of solidly built domestic structures moves the eye from left to right. The closely placed houses appear in no particular linear order, and with the exception of two, are approximately the same size. Roofs, made of slate or thatch, appear to have broad chimneys with smoke rising from them. In the background, additional houses and figures blend into a line of trees. The trees contours mimic the lines of the houses. The soft textured contours of the trees contrast with the hard angular edges of the structures. Background Country fairs, such as this one, were mainstays in an agricultural society. Pitlessie, north of Edinburgh on the River Eden in Scotland, was, in the 18th Century, an agricultural area. After 1750, linen production (as well as linen bleach fields) became important in the economic development of the region. In addition to it being a social outlet, the country fair offered an opportunity for rural inhabitants to come together to sell handmade items as well as livestock. Providing a panorama of rural life, Wilkie humorously illustrates the many groups and activities that coexist within this river front community. In the left hand foreground, bales of fibers stand immediately in front of pottery jugs. Sales of goods take place informally on the village lanes, as well as underneath a centrally located tent. There is no public manufacture in this part of the country for wool, but a considerable domestic one, as all over Scotland; every housewife and family spins; has the yarns wove, dyed, etc. at her own expense. Having clothed her family, she sells the overplus. I viewed the Cloth Hall on a market day, and the scene was animated; but I could not help being struck with the reflection, that such an immense number of men were idle, twice a week, to come from all parts of the clothing country, in order for a half dozen to execute business which might as well be performed by one woman; or, if these men inhabited towns, who would, instead of a day, lose not more than an hour: one third of the productive time of such multitudes thus lost, to say the least, is a disadvantage attending this mode of spreading a manufacture. |