Arthur Severn (1842-1931) Twilight Over An Estuary

Arthur SEVERN
(Rome, 1842 – London, 1931)
Twilight over an Estuary
Watercolour on paper mounted on canvas
H. 69 cm; W. 101 cm
Signed lower left

Provenance: Galerie The Fine Art Society Ltd, 148 New Bond Street, London, in 1979

This spectacular watercolour with a dramatic, glowing sky that practically blends into a lake landscape is the work of an admirer of William Turner and particularly of his later works. Arthur Severn had discovered these at the home of his friend the English painter and art critic John Ruskin (1819-1900), whose second cousin Joan Agnew (1846-1924) he married in 1871. Born into a family of artists, Severn trained in Paris and Rome and exhibited for the first time at the Royal Academy in London in 1862, with the support of Whistler; he also participated in the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1889.
He quickly specialized in landscape and seascape painting, favoring light and atmospheric effects, especially sunsets.

The Musée d'Orsay recently acquired one of his watercolors, as did the Metropolitan Museum in New York.