Watercolor over graphite on medium, slightly textured, cream wove paper in contemporary line mount
Dimensions:
Sheet: 13 5/8 × 20 1/8 inches (34.6 × 51.1 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1975.3.269
Gallery Label:
Around 1790 Smith was commissioned by John Christian Curwen to produce a suite of watercolors depicting his family estates in Cumberland. Belle Isle, in the middle of the lake, was one of Curwen’s favorite residences, the elegant little round house there being just discernible on the central island. Smith has painted the landscape as benign and harmonious, an enchanted place where even the cows seem civilized, pausing to admire the spectacular sunset. Gallery label for Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17)