Old Mill Near Winchester

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Old Mill Near Winchester

Albert Goodwin (1845-1932)

Price

£35,000

Signed

Signed with monogram and dated /75

Medium

Watercolour and bodycolour

Dimensions

9 x 12 ½ inches

Literature

Albert Goodwin RWS, 1845-1932, London: Chris Beetles, 1986, Limited Edition of 1000, Plate 17;
Christopher Newall, Victorian Watercolours, Oxford: Phaidon 1987, Plate 34

Exhibited

'Albert Goodwin RWS 1845-1932. 129 of His Best Works Borrowed From Private Collections', a Museum Tour of the Royal Watercolour Society, Sheffield Mappin Art Gallery, Ruskin Gallery, Stoke on Trent City Museum and Art Gallery, May-October 1986, No 19;
'The Great Age of British Watercolours 1750-1850', Royal Academy, London, January-April 1993, No 157;
'A Watercolourist's Dream. Albert Goodwin (1845-1932) & John Lewis Roget (1828-1908)', The County Gallery, Maidstone, February-March 1999;
'In Search of Sun and Shadow. The Art of Albert Goodwin (1845-1932)', Chris Beetles Gallery, October-November 2019, No 6;
'Chris Beetles Summer Show', 2020, No 86

Albert Goodwin made a number of visits to the cathedral city of Winchester, from at least as early as 1864, when he was only 19 years old. He seems to have been attracted by both its evocative medieval architecture and its distinctive setting in the valley of the Itchen, a fine example of a chalk stream. Here, in a watercolour of 1875, he focussed on the characteristic breadth, shallowness and crystal clarity of a particular stretch, which powers one of Hampshire’s many mills.

Members of the Hampshire Mill Group have made the convincing suggestion that the mill in Goodwin’s watercolour is Winchester City Mill as viewed from the north. If it is correct, then the mill itself can only be glimpsed towards the top left of the image, and is mostly obscured by a thatched roof. The thatched roof belonged to a pig sty, which stood on the island that divides the mill race from the main course of the Itchen.

With thanks to the members of the Hampshire Mill Group for their help in the compilation of this note.

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