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Bonchurch Downs

John Brett British
December 1865
Not on view
Precise natural details convey a dreamlike stillness in this Isle of Wight landscape, painted in the month of December. A sharply canted section of coastal down allows Brett to contrast purplish-gray rocks with pale grass and rusty winter foliage, as dappled touches of brilliant color describe a patch of distant sea. Wandering cows and a signal mast silhouetted against the sky suggest an unseen human presence. Brett was associated with the Pre-Raphaelites, and his early career had been molded by the leading critic John Ruskin, who acted as his mentor until a scientific argument caused a rift in 1865. While painted shortly after their parting, Bonchurch Downs still honors Ruskin’s famous advice that artists should "go to Nature in all singleness of heart . . . rejecting nothing, selecting nothing, and scorning nothing."

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Bonchurch Downs
  • Artist: John Brett (British, Bletchingly 1831–1902 London)
  • Date: December 1865
  • Medium: Watercolor
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 12 in. × 16 1/2 in. (30.5 × 41.9 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Harry G. Sperling Fund, 2015
  • Object Number: 2015.516
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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