Lincoln from the South West: Early Evening

A view of Lincoln from the River Witham just south west of the city.

De Wint has chosen as his subject a bustling scene of barge life along the river. The artist captures every detail of the action, in rich colours of blues and greens and browns and reds, with warehouses being built, workmen, barges waiting to be loaded with corn – perhaps from LeTall’s Mill.

The foreground is crammed with barges full of people fishing or busy working From his vantage point, De Wint could see the town spreading out beyond the river, the line of Steep Hill can be clearly traced with the Cathedral looming in the background.

About the Artist

Peter de Wint (1784-1849)

De Wint was introduced to Lincolnshire by fellow apprentice, friend and future brother in law William Hilton (1786-1839). In 1809 he became a student at the R.A. and the following year married Harriet Hilton. In 1814 De Wint bought some property near the south-west corner of Lincoln Castle at the junction of Drury Lane and Union Road, which was also occupied by Hilton when they were in Lincoln. With the exception of a visit to Normandy, his travels were confined to England and Wales.

In his landscapes, chiefly of river and harvesting scenes, he is very fond of the shallow broad panorama, often enclosed by sombre masses of woodland – he also uses a St Andrew’s cross composition. Trees are built up in several layers of superimposed blues and greens becoming darker in tone. There is much brown, green and orange in his work, but this may be due to fading, from which the drawing has often suffered badly. In particular, his skies are now often pink or non-existent.

Toward the end of his life, his style became freer, and the effect is closer to the sketchiness of his pencil drawings.

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