Samuel Palmer was one of the most unconventional and experimental draughtsmen of his generation. Among his most experimental works are what he called his ‘blacks’, the intensely atmospheric, tonal brush drawings made during the time he lived in Shoreham in Kent, a place he regarded as his ‘valley of vision’. He began to make the ‘blacks’ to explore ways of representing the mysterious nocturnal landscape, and the effect of moonlight reflecting on clouds and shining through trees.