North An English Summer’s Day 1891-92 {1892} NGV [PA]

North, John William (1842-1924; English)
An English Summer’s Day 1891-92
Oil on canvas, 89.8 x 106.7 cm
Purchased, 1892 (advice of Hubert von Herkomer)
National Gallery of Victoria (p.397.5-1)

The 1894 NGV catalogue quotes at length from Herkomer’s enthusiastic endorsement of North: “I can safely say that he is the only landscape painter of the day that can be called a colourist. His art is not for the general public; it is for the few.”

NGV 1894 also notes that North, elected an associate of the RA in 1893, had earlier been a close colleague of Frederick Walker: see Walker The Right of Way {1891} NGV [PA], also bought on Herkomer’s advice, as was North The Little Copse on the Hill 1891 {1892} NGV [WT], a contemporary watercolour.

Refs.

AR 1892, p.23; NGV 1894, p.34 (I.La Trobe Gallery, no.45); NGV 1905, p.29 (I.La Trobe Gallery, no.52: ill.) [£350]