Gathering Summer Flowers in a Devonshire Garden

Date created: c.1893

This painting was sold by Christies in March 1995. The following text is taken from their catalogue:

Waterhouse's sister-in-law Emily, married the landscape painter Peregrine Feeney, who built a house at Baggy Point, Croyde in Devon, after leaving Primrose Hill in 1892. The present picture can be dated between 1893 and 1910 when both Waterhouse and his wife, Esther, were frequent visitors to the cottage in Croyde. Few examples of his work from this period are in existence today.

The lady depicted in the rose filled garden may be the artist's wife. She bears a resemblance to the portrait of Esther that Waterhouse completed in 1894 which is now in the Sheffield City Art Gallery. It seems feasible that she may have posed for the picture on one of their visits to Devon, although the exact identity of the figure is difficult to ascertain from her features alone.