The Brook

Summary

Scene in a picturesque cottage garden with three girls standing next to a running brook in the foreground. The timber framed cottage, in the background, has various plants growing up its walls, with a small, semi-circular outhouse extending from the cottage on the left, on the walls of which hang several caught birds. A jug of flowers stands on the sill of an open, leaded,window on the right. The girl nearest the viewer, in brown skirt, white blouse and red necktie, bends down to collect water from the brook in a small barrel. Behind her, a small girl has her arms around the legs of an older girl, who is seated on a the bank. The older girl is wearing a straw hat with a yellow neck tie and dark yellow skirt, and holds a posy of lilac flowers in her left hand. A red jug stands close to the water's edge. On the left, at the top of the bank, is a wheelbarrow, next to the cottage wattle fence.

Display Label

Gallery text panel Life and Landscape High-Victorian Social and Rural Subjects The Pre-Raphaelite interest in modern life was paralleled by a more general demand for contemporary subjects. The Victorians' fascination with their growing world of new social types and changing patterns of behaviour is particularly echoed in their love of crowd scenes. Some artists tried to highlight the darker side of society by focusing on the plight of the less well off. Yet representations of the working class and unemployed are usually idealised or softened by sentimental treatment. The wealthier classes provided more popular themes in art: high society is often both celebrated and analysed in paintings of domestic interiors and social engagements. Depictions of the city and industrial activity are rare. In an age of urban degradation and mass poverty collectors sought escapism more than social reflection, which gave rise to an unparalleled market for landscapes. Typically extreme in evoking serenity or bleakness, their appeal often revolves around open-ended narratives and the presence or suggestion of human activity.