David Brown Milne 1882 - 1953

Douglas Duncan, Picture Loan Society, Toronto (1948)

Estate of E.R. Hunter, West Palm Beach, Florida

For Milne's agent and dealer, Douglas Duncan, Milne's real career began when he moved from New York City to Boston Corners in upstate New York in 1916. Certainly Milne's work there did reach a level of poise and maturity that perhaps paralleled his return to rural living and his roots in the farming communities of the Bruce Peninsula in Ontario. He found inspiring subjects in the landscape, he developed a style to match his insights, and he had full command of his techniques.

From among the watercolours done in the first few months of Milne's relocation to Boston Corners are these two fine paintings, painted on the same sheet of paper – a not uncommon practice for Milne at this time, when he was painting steadily. Both are of the tiny hamlet itself, which consisted of a church and half a dozen houses with their barns lined up along the only road. Milne's use of a wash for the hill in the verso painting was something that came from his fascination with reflections in the ponds he painted, and how he was able to convey different textures for the reflections and differentiate them from the subjects reflected.