IN 1814, in Book 1 of his long poem The Excursion, William Wordsworth described the landscape as it emerged tentatively after winter: on a 'sunny bank', he wrote, 'the primrose flower peeped forth, to give an earnest of the Spring'. It is not perhaps his best line, but, nevertheless, some 30 years later, John William Inchboldan adherent of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was inspired enough to paint a literal and descriptive picture of the image Wordsworth had evoked. A Study, In March was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1855.
Inchbold would spend the later part of his life abroad, but in this picture of an upland ridge lit by a low sun, he captured an archetypal British spring in which Wordsworth's words have been interpreted in crisp and minute detail. John Ruskin, the great evangelist of 'truth to Nature', praised Inchbold for his fidelity to what he saw. The ewe and her lamb may be at the centre of the painting, but each element, from the distant trees and the play of light to the primroses and clouds, is just as much its subject. The clichés of spring are here combined without a hint of cliché. Nature, warming and stretching after months of cold, is depicted with crystalline clarity and in doing so, Inchbold found a poetry that Wordsworth's line did not really contain.
Spring is, indeed, a natural season for artists and not only for landscape painters; if winter offers a muted palette and paredback scenery, the return of growth and verdancy are full of artistic promise, too.
Denne historien er fra April 03, 2024-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra April 03, 2024-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds