Description:
James Hey Davies (1844-1930) was an English painter. He studied at the Royal Academy Schools in Manchester, then in Sweden and France. He exhibited his works from 1872. He lived in Manchester from 1889-1926. He was engaged in landscape painting and capturing scenes from the life of the peasantry. He painted views of France and Sweden*.

Description of the painting:
The painting “Oat Equipment” shows an almost landscape view of the harvest. The foreground occupies the space in the middle of the mowed field, where we see a man with a scythe on his shoulder. On the second plan, at the left edge of the picture, a solitary house is visible. The hill in the background of the building, and the edge of the forest cutting into the field flank the view opening in the distance to green meadows on the hills. Above them looms a blue sky, which is crossed in the center by a massive cloud of shades of white and gray.

The composition is divided horizontally into a part showing the earth and an equal part showing the sky. The man and the buildings are in the center of the work, dividing two zones. Compared to nature, both the figure and the building seem small and almost insignificant. This shows the power of nature and the dependence of man on it. The picture is realistic, the artist pays attention to drawing the details of the view.