PARADISE LOST Paintings of English Country Life and Landscape 1850-1914

Conservationists often assert that modern English landscapes would be unrecognizable to our great-grandparents, citing the loss of 90% of flower meadows, 2,000 miles of hedgerows, and the threat or extinction of many species, alongside the disappearance of a rural lifestyle depicted in Hardy's novels. However, an invaluable yet overlooked record exists in the works of English landscape painters and watercolorists from 1850 to 1914, such as Helen Allingham, Myles Birket Foster, Sir George Clausen, and George Vicat Cole, whose artworks offer a unique archive of that vanished world. Christopher Wood explores how these artists captured various facets of rural life—work, village scenes, horses, and social hierarchies—revealing not only their depiction of the countryside but also reflecting their own attitudes and societal influences, acknowledging that despite their meticulous detail, these works rarely portrayed rural life in a fully truthful or comprehensive manner. Out of Print. Condition: Very Fine Minus. Light  cover and edge wear.