Artists who have Depicted the River Witham.

 I have made a visit to the Usher Gallery in Lincoln to look for artists who have depicted the River Witham to see if there would be anything that could help me with my own body of work.  I knew that the gallery has a good collection of work by Peter de Wint.  I was interested in one Lincolnshire painting that he had done, however, which was of harvest fields near Horncastle.

Peter de Wint, Lincolnshire Cornfield near Horncastle

The information with the painting noted that it was a long and relatively narrow canvas to emphasise both the endless space of the almost unbroken length of field and skyline.  This reminds me of the panoramas of the river Witham that I have experimented with in my photography.  David Bate in Chapter 5 of The Key Concepts suggest that panoramas show the magnitude of 'nature' and the minuscule details of that space that photography has the potential to record.  He suggests that they create a massive spectacle, at once sublime in scale and information, yet diminishing in that the spectators can feel minuscule in relation to them.  I think this painting illustrated the big skies of Lincolnshire but idealises the 'contented' labourers picnicking in the fields; life must have been hard for them.  Below are a couple of my panoramas of the river.

I found another painting by de Wint of the Cathedral viewed from the Witham and another from a similar spot by Edward Richard Taylor

Peter de Wint, Lincoln from the River at Sunset

Edward Richard Taylor, Lincoln from the Witham

After seeing these paintings I realised that I had two photographs taken from nearly the same position.  Both of the paintings are of sunset views so the lighting is totally different to mine.  It would be interesting to return at the same time of day to rephotograph the scene.

Three paintings that I found were of the Cathedral from the Brayford Pool, a classic view point.  The paintings by Carmichael and Dawson show a much different scene from today. It is bustling with shipping activity and the shore abounds with warehouses.  How different from my two photographs which show the same scene today.  Gone is the industrial past and the the Brayford is now given over to leisure craft and the warehouses and mills have been replaced by restaurants, bars, cinema and university.  Interestingly, Turner's painting, completed 60 years earlier, portrays a much more rural, pastoral scene, and despite the fact that he is known for his depiction of the sublime, picturesque.

John Wilson Carmichael; The Brayford Pool, Lincoln, 1858

Lincoln Cathedral from the Brayford, Henry Dawson, 1867

Lincoln Cathedral from the Holmes, Brayford, Lincoln, 1802/03

Paintings can be found on the BBC Your Paintings website at: 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/search/located_at/usher-gallery-3366_locations#/search/located_at/usher-gallery-3366_locations?=&page=11

Copyright information states that images and data associated with the works mat be reproduced for non-commercial and private study purposes.