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Watercolour - In a Shoreham Garden
  • In a Shoreham Garden
    Samuel Palmer, born 1805 - died 1881
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In a Shoreham Garden

  • Object:

    Watercolour

  • Place of origin:

    Shoreham (probably, painted)

  • Date:

    ca.1830 (painted)

  • Artist/Maker:

    Samuel Palmer, born 1805 - died 1881 (artist)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Watercolour

  • Museum number:

    P.32-1926

  • Gallery location:

    Prints & Drawings Study Room, level H, case SF, shelf 22

Samuel Palmer (1805-1881) taught himself to paint. He greatly admired the work of the artist and poet William Blake (1757-1827). He especially admired Blake’s visionary approach and his lack of respect for conventional watercolour techniques.

This watercolour has a magical, powerful and dreamlike quality. Palmer painted it during his ‘Shoreham Period’. He stayed in Shoreham, a village in the English county of Kent, from 1826 until about 1834.

Physical description

An apple tree in blossom in a walled garden and beyond the tree stands a woman in a red robe.

Place of Origin

Shoreham (probably, painted)

Date

ca.1830 (painted)

Artist/maker

Samuel Palmer, born 1805 - died 1881 (artist)

Materials and Techniques

Watercolour

Dimensions

Height: 28.2 cm, Width: 22.3 cm

Descriptive line

Watercolour entitled 'In a Shoreham Garden' by Samuel Palmer. England, ca.1830.

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Vaughan, William, Elizabeth E. Barker and Colin Harrison, eds. Samuel Palmer 1805-1881: Vision and Landscape. London: The British Museum Press, 2005. 256 p., ill. (chiefly col.). Catalogue of the exhibition held at the British Museum, 12 October 2005 – 22 January 2006. ISBN 0714126411. Cat. no. 66, p. 139, illus.
Victoria and Albert Museum, Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design and Department of Paintings, Accessions 1926, London: Board of Education, 1927.
p.123, pl.116
British watercolours : 1750-1950 / Katherine Coombs. London: V&A Publications, 2012

Labels and date

Samuel Palmer 1805-1881
In a Shoreham Garden
About 1829

Palmer's religious faith pervades the early paintings he produced at Shoreham in Kent. This magical work echoes the Garden of Eden. It includes an apple tree in blossom, a lone woman and a snake-like creeper at the lower right. Palmer once wrote, 'spring showers, blossoms and odours in profusion...Breathe on earth the air of Paradise'.

Watercolour and gouaces on paper

Purchased 1926
Museum no. P.32-1926 []

Materials

Water-colour

Techniques

Painting

Subjects depicted

Woman; Robe; Gardens; Apple trees

Categories

Paintings; Gardens & Gardening

Collection

Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection

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