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1 of 253523 objects
Grasmere from the Wishing Gate Road Signed and dated 1857
Oil on canvas | 50.4 x 89.3 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 401525
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This picturesque view is taken from Wishing Gate Road which winds over the corner of White Moss Common from Rydal Lake, down to Dove Cottage. Silver How, the hill on the left, stands above the island with its barn. The church of St Oswald's nestles beneath the tree, with Helm Crag just above it. The landscape was described in John Houseman's 'A Descriptive Tour and Guide to the Lakes', published c.1800 as the 'sweetly retired, circular vale of Grasmere, with a beautiful small lake, graced with a fine island, and margined with a few pretty enclosures. –"This vale of Peace!"
The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII made a tour of the lakes in May 1857. In his diary of 14 May he noted: 'We went to see an exhibition of watercolours done of the neighbourhood, they were very well done, after that we saw Wordsworth's grave, we then rode onto Rydal falls.' It is difficult to ascertain if the Prince saw any of Pettitt's work in the exhibition, however he acquired this work in October of the same year. At that time Pettitt was living in Grasmere having opened a gallery there with his brother in 1855.
Pettitt was a native of Birmingham, but moved to Windermere in 1851. He exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy from Bellevue, Grasmere from 1858. In 1858 he opened a gallery in Keswick with his brother George W. Pettitt, who exhibited at the Royal Academy in the 1850s from an address in Grasmere. The pair exhibited a collection oil paintings at the Gallery of Fine Art, Grasmere in 1857 under the title 'The Highways and By-ways of English Lake Scenery', and in the same year a number of their paintings of Lake District views were engraved by W. Banks & Sons of Edinburgh. Pettitt was taught photography by William Baldry of Grasmere and produced a series of sterograms of the Lake District.
It is possible that Alfred Pettitt may also have gone by the name Edwin Alfred Pettitt, who is recorded as having exhibited a number of views of Cumberland and North Wales at the Royal Academy between 1858 and 1880. 'A View of Bala Lake', in North Wales, by Edwin Alfred Pettitt was presented to Queen Victoria in 1889 (RCIN 405043).Provenance
Purchased by King Edward VII when Prince of Wales, October 1857 {WRA}
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Creator(s)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on canvas
Measurements
50.4 x 89.3 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
85.2 x 123.1 x 5.5 cm (frame, external)
49.8 x 87.2 cm (sight)
Category
Object type(s)
Alternative title(s)
A view of Grasmere
Grassmere from the Wishing Gate Road