Samuel Palmer

A Dream in the Apennine

exhibited 1864

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

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Not on display

Artist
Samuel Palmer 1805–1881
Medium
Watercolour and gouache on paper on wood
Dimensions
Support: 660 x 1016 mm
frame: 940 x 1295 x 75 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Bequeathed by Mrs Hilda Fothergill Medlicott 1950
Reference
N05923

Display caption

This picture shows a view of Rome from the South-East. It was exhibited in 1864 with this note: 'Suddenly, at a turn in the mountain road, we looked for the first time on that Plain; the dispenser of law, the refuge of philosophy, the cradle of faith. Ground which Virgil trod and Claude invested with supernatural beauty was sketched - but with a trembling pencil.' It is one of Palmer's largest watercolours, and is very densely painted in a mixture of watercolour and bodycolour (watercolour mixed with opaque white). Such heavily-worked up landscapes were characteristic of Palmer's later years. His reference to the Roman poet Virgil recalls the great impact which Blake's illustrations to Thornton's 'Pastorals of Virgil' had on him.

Gallery label, September 2004

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