The Limes at Willsbridge

Robert Bateman

1889 · Pen and brown ink, watercolor and gouache (bodycolor) · Drawings and Prints

Three men stand here in the back garden of a house known as "The Limes," at Willsbridge, Gloucestershire. Bateman admired Sir Edward Burne-Jones and is best known for painting dreamlike Biblical subjects in a Renaissance-revival style, but here places contemporary figures that embody his wide-ranging interests in a contemporary setting. Bateman's interest in science is referenced by a bearded man at left, who resembles Charles Darwin, with whom the artist corresponded. A man leaning on a pruning hook evokes the artist's significant achievements as a designer of gardens and, finally, a monk contemplating a flower reminds us of the spiritual realm and woodcuts that Bateman created for religious publications.

Artist

Robert Bateman

Date

1889

Medium

Pen and brown ink, watercolor and gouache (bodycolor)

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Bequest of James David Draper and the Robert Isaacson Collection, 2020