St. Ives Bridge, St. Ives, Huntingdonshire

1895

Not on view

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

More Artwork

By William Fraser Garden

In the same medium

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A Recollection of Stevington, Bedfordshire–A Spinney in December, William Fraser Garden British, Gouache (bodycolor), watercolor, gum, graphite, reductive techniques — A Recollection of Stevington, Bedfordshire–A Spinney in December
William Fraser Garden
1882

The Lake of Zug, Joseph Mallord William Turner British, Watercolor and bodycolor (gouache) with reductive techniques over graphite — The Lake of Zug
Joseph Mallord William Turner
1843

Sabrina, Samuel Palmer British, Watercolor and gouache (bodycolor) over graphite, with reductive techniques, shell gold and gum arabic — Sabrina
Samuel Palmer
1856

Lady Lilith, Dante Gabriel Rossetti British, Watercolor and gouache (bodycolor) — Lady Lilith
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Henry Treffry Dunn
1867

The Entombment, Sir Edward Burne-Jones British, Green, blue, brown and touches of reddish bodycolor, heightened with white gouache (bodycolor) on green paper — The Entombment
Sir Edward Burne-Jones
1879

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