Extensive Landscape seen from Rodborough Fort

English School

Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum

circa 1764

Fort George, a folly later called Rodborough Fort, was built by 'Captain' George Hawker in 1765 on land taken from Rodborough Common near Stroud. Viewed over a battery of cannon placed on the roof of the Fort, the panorama extends from Selsley Hill and Deadman's Acre on the left to Stroud on the right. A distant view of the River Severn can be glimpsed and the villages along the River Frome can be identified from the left. The painting is fascinating as a document not only of the appearance of the towns and villages along the Frome (now almost entirely swallowed up into Stroud) but also of the extent of the textile industry for which the area was internationally renowned.

• Medium: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: 106 x 263 cm
• Art Fund Grant: £15000 ( Total: £80,000)
• ArtFunded in: 1994
• Vendor: Christopher Gibbs

Provenance

The Guise family of Elmore, by whom sold Sotheby's, 1993; with Christopher Gibbs.

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