Friday, June 19, 2020

Frederick Walker's 'Old Farm Garden.'

Frederick Walker (1840-1875) started learning to draw by copying prints in pen and ink, and he studied in the British Museum. Later he studied at the Royal Academy and worked as an illustrator.

‘The Old Farm Garden (1871) by Frederick Walker (British 1840-1875)
Watercolour and Gouache, 30.2 × 40.6 cm (11.8 × 15.9 in)
He painted in oil and in watercolor/gouache. In this example, a solitary woman in a patterned dress knits in a backyard garden, her cat about to pounce on her ball of yarn.  

Note the brickwork, the lilacs and tulips, and the tiny weathervane on the barn. 


The detail above is only about eight inches wide, showing the precision and delicacy that's possible with gouache.  

Frederick Walker died of tuberculosis in 1875, at a mere 35 years old.
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The painting is in the collection of the Courtlauld Institute, London.
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3 comments:

  1. markmorsJune 19, 2020 at 9:25 AM

    I looked at that picture and thought "she's looking at her cell phone!" :)
    Oh, how easy it is to translate history into contemporary terms.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Susan KrzywickiJune 19, 2020 at 10:04 AM

    e lilacs in particular are evocative.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jim DouglasJune 19, 2020 at 12:08 PM

    Markmors, I agree. She just shot a photo of her cat and now she's posting it on social media. #britcat

    ReplyDelete

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