Autumn Afternoon

In this painting, Brown depicts a quaint farmhouse dwarfed by the rural setting around it. The rolling hills of the Plain cast the house in shadow and block out the setting sun, which still illuminates the clouds in a pale orange glow. Smoke rises from the chimneys in the house, indicating traces of human existence - but, as usual, figures remain missing from Brown’s painting. The spindly trees cast long shadows over the ploughed fields as the sun sets and slowly casts the beautiful rural landscape in
darkness. Brown’s scene presents a cosy representation of rural life - a picturesque farmhouse with a roaring fire inside, as the sun sets over the local farmland - and yet the scene remains firmly focused on the natural elements of the painting, such as the hills and ploughed fields.