Study of trees, by Daniel Alexander Williamson (1823-1903). Watercolour over graphite on paper. 11 1/16 x 7 7/8 inches (28.3 x 20.0 cm). Collection of British Museum, London, registration no. 1985,0608.38. Image courtesy of British Museum, on the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.
This watercolour is not dated but likely comes from around 1865-69, during a transitional phase of Williamson's career, because it still retains some detail before he changes over to his looser, more impressionistic late style.
As its title proclaims, it is primarily a study of trees, two larger ones to the left, and a slender young tree to the right. A stretch of green grass is seen behind them, followed by woodland in the middle ground, and a blue-grey sky in the background. The colour of the leaves suggests the season is autumn.
This watercolour, like Sheep at Twilight, is an unusual study in Williamson’s oeuvre that mainly consisted of horizontal expansive landscapes rather than vertical compositions.
Bibliography
Study of Trees. British Museum. Web. 16 August 2024.
Created 16 August 2024