John Linnell, R.A.

By descent in the artist’s family

Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, and Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, John Linnell, A Centennial Exhibition, 1982-83, no. 50

The present oil may be that which Linnell mentioned in his journal for March 1819: ‘small picture of twilight 5 x 4 (tiny sketch showing trees and crescent moon). Upright and low horizon.’¹

In June of the previous year Linnell had met William Blake (1757-1827) for the first time. Despite the age difference -- Linnell was twenty-six while Blake was sixty-one -- the two men became friends and under Blake’s influence Linnell’s attitude towards landscape became more emotive. The dreamlike atmosphere of the present lot demonstrates this shift. 

¹ K. Crouan, John Linnell: A Centennial Exhibition, Cambridge 1982, p. 19