The Old Man of Coniston from the gardens at Brantwood (recto); Sketch of a sinking boat (verso)

1890–1901

Not on view

Severn’s sunset watercolor focuses on a mountain known as the Old Man, located near Coniston Water in the Lake District. The work was painted at Brantwood, the home of the critic and collector John Ruskin, where the artist spent part of each year after 1871, when he married Joan Agnew, Ruskin’s niece and ward. Freely handled washes imitate effects in oil, with forms rendered broadly and tone given more emphasis than fine detail. Severn’s association with the Aesthetic movement encouraged effects such as the band of mist rising against a dark cliff and the visual rhyming of mountainside and watery reflections below. They also point to an admiration for J. M. W. Turner’s late watercolors, several of which Ruskin owned.

Artwork Details

Title: The Old Man of Coniston from the gardens at Brantwood (recto); Sketch of a sinking boat (verso)
Artist: Arthur Severn (British, London 1842–1931 London)
Date: 1890–1901
Medium: Watercolor and gouache (recto); fabricated black crayon (verso)
Dimensions: Sheet: 10 7/16 × 14 3/16 in. (26.5 × 36 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Ian Woodner Family Collection Fund, 2022
Object Number: 2022.380a, b
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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