Rose Barton, Irish, 1865-1929
Title: The Garden of Lindsey House, London
Date: 1917
Medium: Graphite and watercolour on board
Dimensions:
26.4 x 36.7 cm
Signed: lower right (in watercolour): Rose Barton 1917
Credit Line: Purchased, 2001
Object Number: NGI.19590
DescriptionRose Barton decided to become a professional artist in the 1880s. Accompanied by Mildred Anne Butler, she studied in Paris under Henri Gervex (1852-1929) and Paul Jacob Naftel (1817-91). She exhibited at the Royal Academy and the Watercolour Society of Ireland throughout her career. Her watercolours, delicate evocations of fin-de-siècle houses and landscapes, capture the atmospheric effects of fog and twilight. Her love of misty half lights betrays the influence of Turner and Whistler. The lush garden of Lindsey House, (at that time the London home of the art collector Sir Hugh Lane), suffused with pink and orange washes, is reflected in the lily pond. Barton conveys the quiet tranquillity and mysterious atmosphere of this suburban garden's private spaces.
Inscriptionon verso of board (in graphite and ink): The Mulberry tree in/ Lindsaey House Gardens/ Rose Barton RWS./79 Park Mansions/ Knightsbridge/ S.W.1