The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 19, 2024
Landscape with Figure in Foreground
c. 1840
Location: not on view
Description
Primarily self-taught, Varley played a significant role in the development of open-air drawing practice in 19thcentury England. He relished the opportunity to engage directly with natural phenomena and made numerous sketches of the English landscape. Raised by his uncle who was a watchmaker, Varley combined his artistic interests with his exposure to science, and in 1809 invented a "graphic telescope," a drawing instrument loosely derived from the camera obscura. Varley’s drawings were more than mere transcriptions of nature, however. This drawing illustrates a stanza of Samuel Roger’s popular poem "The Pleasures of Memory": The adventuring boy that asks his little share And hies from home, with many a gossip’s prayer Turns on a neighboring hill once more to see The dear abode of peace and privacy; And as he turns, the thatch among the trees The smoke’s blue wreaths, ascending from the breeze, The Village Common scattered with white sheep All rouse reflection’s sadly pleasing train And oft he looks, and weeps, and looks again.- Nature Sublime: Landscapes from the 19th Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 15-November 14, 2004).Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; 8/15/04-11/14/04. "Nature Sublime: Landscapes from the 19th Century". No exhibition catalogue.
- {{cite web|title=Landscape with Figure in Foreground|url=false|author=Cornelius Varley|year=c. 1840|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2004.40