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"Jersey" by Edwin Douglas. |
THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE ― These Findon Chronicles are created by Valerie Martin and are progressively growing to be the only record of life around Findon, West Sussex, England. Everyday stories about real people..... in fact, a potted history of the village. The topics today, are the history of tomorrow.
THE CHANNEL ISLAND SERIES
Copyright Valerie Martin 2003
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" —
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"Jersey" by Edwin Douglas. |
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.
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"Alderney" painted by Edwin Douglas in 1878. |
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.....
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Sark by Edwin Douglas. |
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"A Jersey Family" by Edwin Douglas |
The fourth picture in the Channel Island series was "A Jersey Family", and this met with the best success of the set. Its centre piece was an elderly tethered cow, tenderly licking the back of her calf, and behind it, half in shadow, two more cows were being milked by a milkmaid. I think we will leave the Channel Island Series there.
Continue if you would like to read about Edwin Douglas' daughter, Margot, in A Lady of Substance.
This is Findon Village — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon and sometimes beyond.
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Do let me know of anything you hear about Findon - not too controversial. Please note that opinions expressed in the Findon Chronicles are not necessarily reflective of my own thoughts.... but just sometimes they might be! |
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