A Hymn to Spring
Cecil Gordon LAWSON
(British, 1851-1882)
A Hymn to Spring
Date1871-1872
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensionsoverall: 60 x 40 in. (152.4 x 101.6 cm)
frame: 74 x 54 x 3 1/2 in. (188 x 137.2 x 8.9 cm)
ClassificationPAINTINGS
Credit LineSBMA, Gift of Lord and Lady Ridley-Tree
Object number1995.25.1
Subject(s)
- spring
- landscape
- flowers
- plants
Collection
- 19th century European
On View
Not on viewCollections
Label TextThis striking landscape is based on close observation of a specific location, but Lawson, then barely into his twenties, transformed a slice of English countryside into a poetic meditation on the beauty of spring. The startling disjuncture between the meticulously detailed rendering of the daffodils and the flowering medlar tree in the foreground and the more broadly painted meadow and river in the background went against accepted academic practice at the time and probably explains why the Royal Academy rejected the painting when Lawson submitted it to their annual exhibition. It was exhibited after his death at the more progressive Grosvenor Gallery.
