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Source Description
John William North’s watercolors of the rural landscape of Somerset unite the seemingly contradictory states of minutely rendered detail with atmospheric effects. Herbert Alexander, the artist’s biographer, described the artist’s interpretation of nature as similar to that of a poet, suggesting rather than describing: "In watercolor and oil an effect of intricate detail is found on examination to be quite illusive—multitudinous form is conjured by finding and losing it in endless hide-and-seek till the eye accepts infinity."
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
170714
label
The Wood Gatherers
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
170714
contentType
drawing
title
The Wood Gatherers
description
John William North’s watercolors of the rural landscape of Somerset unite the seemingly contradictory states of minutely rendered detail with atmospheric effects. Herbert Alexander, the artist’s biographer, described the artist’s interpretation of nature as similar to that of a poet, suggesting rather than describing: "In watercolor and oil an effect of intricate detail is found on examination to be quite illusive—multitudinous form is conjured by finding and losing it in endless hide-and-seek till the eye accepts infinity."
date
1869
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q80079794
creators
60584
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 40.5 x 56.3 cm (15 15/16 x 22 3/16 in.)
cul
England, 19th century
accession
2013.239
Source extras
tec
watercolor and gouache with scratch-away and touches of shell gold
tombstone
The Wood Gatherers, 1869. John William North (British, 1842–1924). Watercolor and gouache with scratch-away and touches of shell gold; sheet: 40.5 x 56.3 cm (15 15/16 x 22 3/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift in memory of Helen Borowitz, 2013.239
supportMaterials
description
off-white wove paper
collection
DR - British
inscriptions
inscription
inscribed, lower left, in white gouache: N and in ochre: 69
didYouKnow
In addition to his artistic career, John William North championed social justice for the agricultural laboring class in England, campaigning for decent rural sanitation and social housing.
citations
citation
Lemonedes, Heather. <em>British Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art. </em>Exh. Cat. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2013.
page_number
Referenced: pp. 116-117, 147, no. 39; Reproduced: p. 117
creditline
Gift in memory of Helen Borowitz
updatedAt
2026-05-29 08:45:28.888000
sourceId
170714
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - British
med
watercolor and gouache with scratch-away and touches of shell gold
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
6e69a595c79c3b26