Back of the Mills, from "Norfolk Picturesque Scenery"
John Crome British
Not on view
Crome uses a river meandering through woods toward distant buildings to celebrate his native county of Norfolk. Largely self-taught, the artist combines intense natural observation with lessons learned from paintings by Gainsborough and Hobbema. A founder and leader of the Norwich School (artists based in that town who developed a distinct local style), Crome worked in oils and as a drawing master, then became one of the first 19th-century Britons to use etching as an expressive tool. Prints made between 1809 and 1813, based on plein-air sketches, anticipate the Etching Revival. Unpublished during Crome's lifetime, sets titled "Norfolk Picturesque Scenery, Consisting of Thirty-One Etchings" were first issued in 1834 to benefit his widow.
