The Weald of Kent - YCBA Collections Search

Samuel Palmer, 1805–1881, British, active in Italy (1837–39), The Weald of Kent, between 1833 and 1834

Creator:: Samuel Palmer, 1805–1881
Title:: The Weald of Kent
Date:: between 1833 and 1834
Medium:: Watercolor and gouache on moderately thick, rough, cream wove paper
Dimensions:: Sheet: 7 3/8 x 10 5/8 inches (18.7 x 27 cm)
Credit Line:: Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:: Public Domain
Accession Number:: B1981.25.2654
Classification:: Drawings & Watercolors
Collection:: Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:: autumn | branches | fields | hedges | landscape | leaves (plant materials) | trees
Associated Places:: England | Europe | Kent | United Kingdom
Access:: Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
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Link:: https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:19905
Export:: XML
IIIF Manifest:: JSON

The present watercolor is one of three related views of the Weald of Kent that Palmer produced probably in the summer of 1833 or 1834. The other two are The Timber Wain (Paul Mellon Collection, ycba) and The Golden Valley (Michael and Judy Steinhardt Collection, New York). Both The Weald of Kent and The Timber Wain enclose almost the same distant prospect within the trunk and branches of a massive oak. This view has recently been identified as Underriver as seen from Carter's Hill (Vaughan et al., 2005., p. 155).
In 1832 Palmer purchased a house in London and over the next few years spent less time in Shoreham. In The Weald of Kent and its two companion watercolors, the artist seems to be looking back from a distance on the Kentish countryside and taking leave of the intimate pastoral landscape that had heretofore been the heart of his artistic life.

Scott Wilcox

Baskett, John, Jules David Prown, Duncan Robinson, Brian Allen, and William Reese. Paul Mellon's Legacy: A Passion for British Art. New Haven : Yale Center for British Art , 2007, cat. no. 114.

An American's Passion for British Art - Paul Mellon's Legacy (Royal Academy of Arts, 2007-10-20 - 2008-01-27) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Paul Mellon's Legacy : A Passion for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2007-04-18 - 2007-07-29) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

An American's Passion for British Art - Paul Mellon's Legacy (Yale Center for British Art, 2007-04-18 - 2007-07-29) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Samuel Palmer 1805-1881 Vision and Landscape (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2006-03-07 - 2006-05-28) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Samuel Palmer 1805-1881 Vision and Landscape (British Museum, 2005-10-21 - 2006-01-22) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

English Landscape (Paul Mellon Collection) 1630-1850 (Yale Center for British Art, 1977-04-19 - 1977-07-17) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

John Baskett, Paul Mellon's Legacy: a Passion for British Art: Masterpieces from the Yale Center for British Art, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, pp. 295-96, no. 113, pl. 113, N5220 M552 P38 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Jonathan Mayne, Taste in Water-Colour, Apollo, v. 77, no. 14, April 1963, pp. 290, 292, fig. 3, N1 A54 + (YCBA) Second copy available in Vertical File : V1168 [YCBA]

Painting in England 1700-1850 : collection of Mr. & Mrs. Paul Mellon : Exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, , 1,2, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, 1963, intro. p. 12, p. 104, no. 189, ND466 V57 v.1-2 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Paul Mellon's Legacy : a passion for British art [large print labels], , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, v. 2, no. 113, N5220 M552 P381 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Sotheby's sale catalogue : Catalogue of fine paintings and drawings of the English school : 30 November 1960, Sotheby's, London, November 30, 1960, p. 17 and opposite p. 17, lot 63, Auction catalogues (YCBA) [YCBA]

William Vaughan, Samuel Palmer : shadows on the wall, The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, New Haven, 2015, pp, 136, 137, 211, fig. 113, NJ18.P19 V37 2015 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

William Vaughan, Samuel Palmer, 1805-1881 : vision and landscape, , British Museum Press, London, 2005, p. 155, no. 83, fig. 83, Nj18 P19 V38 2005 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

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