Derwentwater

Location

Country: UK
City: England
Place: Wiston House, Foreign Office, Wilton Park

This view of Derwentwater by George F. Buchanan captures an aspect of the dramatic landscape surrounding England’s widest lake. Dominated by the lofty peaks of the surrounding North Lakeland fells, the quiet, idyllic scenes include small boats gliding across the water and cattle grazing. Derwentwater Lake is situated in the Lake District, in Cumbria. It is surrounded by hills and woodland and is both fed and drained by the River Derwent. The lake measures roughly three miles by one mile and is just 22 meters deep.

Landscapist George Frederick Buchanan was based in Edinburgh when he first exhibited at the Scottish Academy in 1841. He had moved to Glasgow by 1842 and to London in 1848, although his subjects remained mostly Scottish landscapes. He then exhibited at the Royal Academy, British Institution and Society of British Artists in London, and at the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, and the Glasgow Institute. He moved regularly to different addresses, living in Mayfair, the City and Belsize Park, to escape creditors. In 1854 he appeared at the ‘Court of Relief of Insolvent Debtors’ in Lincoln’s Inn and in 1861 was imprisoned at the ‘Debtor’s Prison for London and Middlesex’, when his estate and effects were seized. He exhibited nothing after 1865.

Places

England, Lake District, Cumbria, Skiddaw, Derwentwater

Subjects

fishing boat, fisherman, topography, landscape C19th, genre, grass, tree, lake, mountain, hill, man, house, cottage

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil painting

Artist

George Frederick Buchanan

Title

Derwentwater

Date

c.1850

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 57.00 cm, width: 76.50 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Appleby Bros, November 1974

Provenance

Sold through Bonhams, London, 'Important English and Continental Paintings' sale, on 27 June 1974; with Appleby's; from whom purchased by the Department of the Environment in November 1974

GAC number

11685