Gray’s "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard"

Robert Hills|Thomas Gray

before 1844 · Watercolor · Drawings and Prints

Thomas Gray’s famous poem, written to commemorate a young friend he lost in 1751, offered Hills several Romantic tropes. As a meditation on mortality, the image presents nature as both sympathetic to human emotion and as a bridge to the divine. The artist was a founding member of the Society of Painters in Water-Colours and shared that group’s determination to encourage new public appreciation for the medium. Since the artist was known for his images of animals, it is surprising to find none depicted here. He may have expected contemporary viewers to know Gray’s poem by heart and to recall lines that mention a lowing herd and a moping owl as they contemplated his composition.

Artist

Robert Hills|Thomas Gray

Date

before 1844

Medium

Watercolor

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Purchase, Ian Woodner Family Collection Fund, 2022