A Hind's Daughter

The small girl has just straightened up after cutting a cabbage and looks directly at the viewer. Girl and landscape seem inextricably merged in this essentially Scottish scene. A hind was a skilled farm labourer, and leafy greens(or kail) a staple diet of Scottish hinds and their families. Guthrie painted the picture in the Berwickshire village of Cockburnspath, where he opted to stay during the winter, unlike his Glasgow friends who returned to the city at the end of the summer. The warm earth colours and distinctive square brush strokes confirm the profound impact Bastien-Lepage's painting made on Guthrie.

This commentary is part of the National audio tour. Listen to the whole tour in Smartify.

Credit: Bequest of Sir James Lewis Caw 1951