THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — www.findonvillage.com  created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.

THE CHANNEL ISLAND SERIES

Copyright Valerie Martin 2003

Please note that I cannot enter into correspondence on valuations of paintings nor advise on where best to sell items.

I believe that Edwin Douglas' affections were divided pretty equally between horses, dogs and cows, but it is chiefly by his paintings of the latter that his reputation was made, and four of his canvases he collectively called his "Channel Island Series" —

His first painting in the series was executed 1878 when he was 30 years old. It was entitled "Jersey" and showed a milkmaid trudging home with two cows. She carried a tin milking-can. An engraving of this, by Mr. Alais, published by Messrs Graves, met with extraordinary success, especially in America, where the proofs fetched between three and four times as much as their originally published price. The five-guinea proofs eventually went for twenty-five guineas in New York.

The second painting of the Channel Island collection was "Alderney", a girl carrying cabbages on her shoulders and walking by an Alderney cow. It was purchased for 300 guineas by Mr. Tate and placed in the Tate Gallery of British Art at Millbank in London.

In the third painting, "Sark", the subject was the same, except that the cow was slightly different, and the cabbages were replaced by a milking-can. 

An image of "Sark" eluded me for a number of years but here it is.....