A tree trunk in a field at the edge of a wood
Watercolour
late 19th century - early 20th century (made)
late 19th century - early 20th century (made)
| Artist/Maker |
Beatrix Potter is one of the world's best-loved children's authors and illustrators. She wrote the majority of the twenty-three Original Peter Rabbit Books between 1901 and 1913. The Tale of Peter Rabbit (Frederick Warne, 1902) is her most famous and best-loved tale.
Beatrix Potter was fascinated by natural history and made many detailed studies of plants, animals and fungi. She approached this study of a tree trunk with a similar emphasis on close observation. Later in life she was critical of landscape painters who never ‘considered how the branches grow from a tree trunk’, advising the artist Delmar Banner in a letter of 1937 (V&A collection): ‘if you study an ash you will see every branch from the main trunk, or the stem of the young sapling, has come out in curves; and curved on and on with the weight of foliage. Other species in contrast grow upward. We can tell every tree in winter without reference to its foliage by mode of its growth.’
Beatrix Potter was fascinated by natural history and made many detailed studies of plants, animals and fungi. She approached this study of a tree trunk with a similar emphasis on close observation. Later in life she was critical of landscape painters who never ‘considered how the branches grow from a tree trunk’, advising the artist Delmar Banner in a letter of 1937 (V&A collection): ‘if you study an ash you will see every branch from the main trunk, or the stem of the young sapling, has come out in curves; and curved on and on with the weight of foliage. Other species in contrast grow upward. We can tell every tree in winter without reference to its foliage by mode of its growth.’
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | A tree trunk in a field at the edge of a wood (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | watercolour on paper |
| Brief description | Watercolour study of a tree trunk in a field at the edge of a wood by Beatrix Potter; Linder Bequest cat. no. LB.609. |
| Physical description | A close-up view of a large tree trunk in a field, with a woodland beyond. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Production type | Unique |
| Credit line | Linder Bequest [plus object number; written on labels on the same line as the object number] |
| Object history | Acquired by the V&A from Leslie Linder (1904-1973) in 1973 as part of the Linder Bequest, a collection of ca. 2150 watercolours, drawings, literary manuscripts, correspondence, books, photographs, and other memorabilia associated with Beatrix Potter and her family. |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | Beatrix Potter is one of the world's best-loved children's authors and illustrators. She wrote the majority of the twenty-three Original Peter Rabbit Books between 1901 and 1913. The Tale of Peter Rabbit (Frederick Warne, 1902) is her most famous and best-loved tale. Beatrix Potter was fascinated by natural history and made many detailed studies of plants, animals and fungi. She approached this study of a tree trunk with a similar emphasis on close observation. Later in life she was critical of landscape painters who never ‘considered how the branches grow from a tree trunk’, advising the artist Delmar Banner in a letter of 1937 (V&A collection): ‘if you study an ash you will see every branch from the main trunk, or the stem of the young sapling, has come out in curves; and curved on and on with the weight of foliage. Other species in contrast grow upward. We can tell every tree in winter without reference to its foliage by mode of its growth.’ |
| Bibliographic reference | Hobbs, Anne Stevenson, and Joyce Irene Whalley, eds. Beatrix Potter: the V & A collection : the Leslie Linder bequest of Beatrix Potter material : watercolours, drawings, manuscripts, books, photographs and memorabilia. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1985.
p.64; no.609
Hobbs, Anne Stevenson, and Joyce Irene Whalley, eds. Beatrix Potter: the V & A collection: the Leslie Linder bequest of Beatrix Potter material: watercolours, drawings, manuscripts, books, photographs and memorabilia. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1985. p.64; no.609 |
| Other number | LB.609 - Linder Bequest catalogue no. |
| Collection | |
| Library number | BP.1153 |
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| Record created | August 20, 2015 |
| Record URL |
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