Gathering Lilac

Myles Birket Foster (1825 - 1899)

Godalming Museum

circa 1865

This work shows a traditionally built Surrey cottage with a woman working in the garden and three girls picking lilacs on the verge of a country lane. Geese feed on the common, with wooded hills rising behind. It is a vision of picturesque and contented country life. The artist's connection with Surrey began when he bought a country cottage in Witley, in the early 1860s. He quickly decided to make his home there and designed his new house, The Hill, himself. The scenes of country life around his home inspired Birket Foster's watercolours.

• Medium: watercolour
• Dimensions: 23 x 33.2cm
• Art Fund Grant: £10200 ( Total: £27,000)
• ArtFunded in: 2004
• Vendor: Anthony Oxley

Provenance

Colonel Sir William Thomlinson; Christie's 1943; Margaret Butter; Russian Royal Family; Phillips 2001; Laurence Oxley; Anthony Oxley.

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