Benjamin Williams Leader, R.A.

J. Bradbury (by 1893)
George C. Thomas, Philadelphia (by circa 1900)
George C. Thomas, Jr., Los Angeles (by descent from the above, his father)
Josephine Thomas Gardner, Palm Springs (by descent from the above, her father)

Benjamin Williams Leader, Records of Paintings Sold, October 1893

This scene in the present work is of an unidentifiable Worcestershire landscape, possibly a composite of one of the many small hamlets which dotted the flat plains of the Vale of Evesham to the east of the Worcester, Leader’s birth city. The painting illustrates the artist’s masterly technique of capturing the natural effects of light reflected from water. The combination of Leader’s impressionistic brushstrokes and the muted warm earth colors contrasted against the lighter cool tones of the sky, enhance the naturalistic effect of the landscape after rain.

The present work was originally unsigned and undated and would have been painted by Leader at some time during the 1880s. In October 1893, at the request of the then current owner, the artist certified that the landscape was by his hand; hence his signature and the date "1893."