This intimate watercolour of two cows in a barn dates from the period when Eric Ravilious was living in Essex and painting the rural scenes for which he became so admired.
Ravilious studied painting and printing in Eastbourne and at the Royal College of Art in London, where he was taught by Paul Nash. In the early 1930s he moved with his wife from London to Essex, where they shared a house in Great Bardfield with the artist Edward Bawden and his family. The Fry Art GalleryÂ’s collection focuses on work by 20th- and 21st-century artists who have lived or worked in northwest Essex. It has particularly strong holdings of Great Bardfield artists, including Ravilious, Bawden, Michael Rothenstein and Sheila Robinson. This painting now becomes a highlight of the collection.
Provenance
Bought by the present owner's father, 1936; thence by descent