Lake Coniston Seen From Yewdale

Harry Goodwin 1842 - 1925

Summary

Landscape depicted from a bird's eye view. Rocks and vegetation on foreground. Lake and rocky hill with a few trees on top in middle ground. The lake disappears into the distance, surrounded by hills. Clear sky. Thomas Horsfall prized this watercolour for the location it shows: the lower slopes of Wetherlam and Coniston Old Man. This was where William Wordsworth, the Romantic poet, took the morning walk that he described in 'The Prelude', an epic poem treating themes of man, nature and society. Horsfall was preoccupied with similar issues. He wanted Manchester people to feel the glorious inspiration that Wordsworth felt on walking in the Lake District. He could not take them there; instead he showed this image with extracts from the poem printed beneath it at the Horsfall Museum. The original text read: "This drawing shows part of the lovely country seen by Wordsworth in the course of that memorable morning walk when "vows were then made for me; bond unknown to me was given that I should be, else sinning greatly, a dedicated Spirit". Wetherlam and Coniston Old Man, the mountains mentioned in the passage in 'The Prelude' which describes the walk "near the solid mountains shone, bright as the clouds, grain-tinctured, drenched in empyrean light" are not shown in the drawing. Wetherlam lies to the right of, and rather behind the point from which the view is taken; and Coniston Old Man stands on the right or western side of the near end of the lake, which is Coniston Lake. Their lower slopes form the side of Yewdale. The whole of the passage which describes the walk is given in the notes on the drawing of 'The Morning Walk', which is placed near this drawing". Opened in 1884 to provide education and inspiration to the working classes, the Horsfall Museum closed in 1918 with the collections transferred to Manchester Art Gallery.

Display Label

Art for All: Thomas Horsfall’s Gift to Manchester Thomas Coglan Horsfall (1844-1932) was a pioneering philanthropist who established the Manchester Art Museum in 1884 in Harpurhey, moving it to larger premises at Ancoats Hall in 1886. The Museum was at the forefront of developments in art education, operating an innovative picture loan scheme for schools. In the 1880s, Harpurhey and Ancoats were crowded working class areas: the residents lived hard lives in impoverished surroundings. Horsfall wanted to make them aware of natural beauty by means of the Museum. He decided to locate the Museum close to their homes and to open it until 10 o’clock at night and on Sundays so that working people could visit. The Museum showed decorative and industrial art, original paintings and drawings, and copious reproductions. The works of art were arranged in themed rooms and everything had an explanatory label. Clubs for rambling, singing and woodcarving were formed and twice-weekly entertainments were held in the Museum’s concert hall. In 1918, the Museum and its contents were transferred to the management of Manchester City Council. The Museum finally closed in 1953. The majority of the items in this exhibition are from the original Museum. The exhibition has been co-curated by the Year 5 pupils at St Augustine’s CE Primary School in Harpurhey, Manchester.