Pottergate, Richmond, Yorkshire

John S Newton

1847

Oil on Canvas

73.2 x 86.8 cm

John Newton was only nineteen when he painted this picture. The sign over the door of the red-brick building advertises his father’s business: ‘Newton, Painter, gilder, paper hanger’. Local figures animate the view, including Jackie Patterson, the cleaner of the local privies, who is seen on the left with two donkeys. In the foreground carrying a parcel is Harry Pickall, private postman to the local landowner, the Marquis of Zetland.