St. Ives Bridge, St. Ives, Huntingdonshire
William Fraser Garden British
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.