Thomas Weaver: The Ploughing Match, oil on canvas

The ploughman shown in this painting is John Gee, a 'Norfolk ploughman' who moved to Weston from the Weeting Estate in Norfolk which the 1st Earl of Bradford had inherited from his cousin the Earl of Mountrath. The picture shows an actual event, a contest which is thought to have taken place at Attingham Park near Shrewsbury - the spires of which can be seen in the background. The other contestants were the ploughmen of Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, Richard Lyster, and P Owen, each of whom had to 'plough, with two horses abreast and one man to attend it....'. John Gee can be seen wearing a fawn slop-frock coat that would have been soaked in linseed oil to repel the rain. On his head is a beaver hat. The artist, Thomas Weaver, was based in Shrewsbury and was a renowned painter of livestock and horses. Weston Park has a number of works by Weaver in its collection - uniformly framed in Morland frames by the Shrewsbury gilder Thomas Donaldson. Many of these show livestock reared by the 1st Earl of Bradford's farm and there are also four portarits of staff amongst the works including this likeness of John Gee.