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Painting, watercolour over a lithograph print,
Windermere, A Storm, by Ford Madox Brown, about 1855.
Windermere from the head of the lake with Bowness on the far
distant shore. In the foreground a scattered herd of cattle
lie in a sloping field enclosed by drystone walls on left.
Two figures pass across it from right to left. Beyond lies
the lake fringed on the nearside with trees; beyond it rise
distant hills. A heavy bank of cloud hovers over the
horizon.
Brown seldom left his studio to paint outdoors and only
painted two pictures on the spot in his career. However,
Brown was encouraged to visit the Lake District in 1848 by
fellow artist Rossetti, to study the outdoor effects of
light. Brown spent six days in the Lake District and was
only affected by rain on his last day when he had to sketch
under an umbrella. Brown completed a larger version of this
view in oils which is now in the Lady Lever Art Gallery; the
print was made from that painting. Brown decided to paint
over the surface of the print entirely in opaque watercolour
to hide its surface. He also decided to add a very fanciful
sky and group of trees on the right hand side which are
absent in the original painting. Brown captures a moment in
time in this picture. Two people are walking across the
bright green grassy field filled with cattle, while above,
storm clouds are brewing.
On 31st January 1858 the artist recorded in his diary
'coloured at one of my lithographs of Windermere to give
John Marshall [an eminent surgeon]'.
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