Artwork Page for Steps in a Garden

Details / Information for Steps in a Garden

Steps in a Garden

1860

William Henry Millais

(British, 1828–1899)
Culture
England, 19th century
Medium
watercolor and gouache with scratch-away technique to create highlights on sturdy-weight wove paper mounted to same by artist with color tests in margins of mount
Support
Sturdy-weight, moderately textured, wove paper
Measurements
Sheet: 33.8 x 26 cm (13 5/16 x 10 1/4 in.); Secondary Support: 39 x 32.4 cm (15 3/8 x 12 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift in memory of Helen Borowitz 2013.240
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.
Location
Not on view
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Did You Know?

William Henry Millais's brother John Everett was a founder of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood and encouraged the older artist to pursue landscape as a subject.

Description

William Henry Millais was closely associated with the founding members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He sketched extensively from nature in the early 1850s. Here, Millais painted a sequestered landscape of rough-hewn steps ascending a shady slope. A smattering of light pierces a dense canopy of trees, allowing little to flourish except for the foxgloves that adorn the foreground. Ivy growing on the hillside, a decaying stump, and moss-covered steps suggest the passage of time.
An arched watercolor and gouache drawing depicts a wooded path climbing through tiered wooden steps. Thick, dark branches curve across the top, framing a pink foxglove and tree stump in the foreground. Bright white dabs convey sunlight on the brown earth, while further up the slope, a second set of steps ascends into a sunlit grove of green and yellow trees, creating a sense of depth and luminosity.

Steps in a Garden

1860

William Henry Millais

(British, 1828–1899)
England, 19th century

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