Borrowdale

Borrowdale 1846 oil on canvas by Sam Bough (1822-1878).

View of Grange village in Borrowdale, the Lake District. It shows the Lakeland valley in summer with clouds gathered over the fells which rise beyond the valley. On the right stands a small stone mill, partially obscured by a stand of tall trees; two men stand conversing on the path which fords the river crossing composition diagonally from lower right corner. In the foreground two women pause in a patch of sunlight to talk to a third woman seated on a log beside the river. To their left a man on horseback turns in his saddle to regard them. To the extreme left, a small flock of sheep are accompanied by a sheepdog; in middle distance a herd of cattle stand in the river beyond.

Bough has dramatically altered the appearance of the valley by exaggerating the size of the fells in this painting which resemble the Scottish highlands and show a considerable amount of ‘artistic licence’. Bough would have sketched this view of Grange on the spot on his occasional visits to the Lake District, completing the finished oil painting back in his studio.

Bough is one of Carlisle’s most important 19th century artists. Despite finally settling in Edinburgh, Bough kept strong links with his native city. He became a leading Victorian landscape painter and gained a national reputation for his landscape and marine watercolours. He particularly liked to paint Scotland’s east coast, the western Isles and the Lake District. Bough was prolific and exhibited hundreds of works. His work was popular with the public and art collectors, making him wealthy. Bough is represented by eighty-eight works in the collection including oil paintings, watercolours, drawings and sketchbooks. We also have Bough’s palette, brushes, pipe, tankard, tobacco box and a terracotta figure of the artist by William Grant Stevenson (1842–1919).