A charming watercolour on paper, "Cattle At The Gate". c 1850, unsigned, 35cm x 23cm. Shown at The Lovert Gallery, Surrey.
 
This gorgeous little pastoral watercolour depicts a bucolic idyll, typical of parlour paintings of the late nineteenth century. This period is considered the golden age of landscape painting in Europe and America. Pastoral landscapes such as this celebrated a dominion of mankind over nature and often depicted peaceful scenes of ripe harvests, manicured lawns with broad vistas, and fattened livestock. During this period of intense industrialisation the Victorians became newly obsessed by the idea of an imagined perfected countryside, but one critically tamed and staid by man's hand.