St. Ives Bridge, St. Ives, Huntingdonshire
Garden’s skill with watercolor here creates an image characterized by meticulous realism. Dramatically lit clouds draw attention to a fifteenth-century chapel built into a medieval bridge over the river Ouse—one of only three British chapels from that period to survive. Bluish stone below identifies the original structure, with warmer-toned masonry above related to later additions. A breathless calm allowed the artist to mirror stonework and shrubbery in the river with near-photographic clarity, and the absence of human figures creates an atmosphere of surreal calm. The most talented member of a family of artists, and born Garden William Fraser, the watercolorist changed his last name to distinguish himself while working in relative obscurity around his Fenland home in Huntingdonshire.
Artwork Details
- Title: St. Ives Bridge, St. Ives, Huntingdonshire
- Artist: William Fraser Garden (British, Gillingham, Kent 1856–1921 Huntingdon)
- Date: 1895
- Medium: Watercolor, pen and gray ink, touches of gouache (bodycolor), over graphite
- Dimensions: 14 x 18 in. (35.5 x 45.7 cm)
- Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Purchase, Guy Wildenstein Gift, 2000
- Object Number: 2000.342
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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