Misbourne Valley

The mix of media in this painting, the watercolour offset with pen and ink and bulked out with pencil, coloured crayon and bodycolour, demonstrates the range of effect Nash was able to employ in the works of this period. The crispness of the pen line etches in branches and foliage, while watercolour is used to discriminate between types of tree and hedge. But whatever the medium, it is actually the succession of shapes which accounts for the success of this work: the sheer inventiveness of mark, the innate gift for pattern, the candid and responsive eye. Nash the countryman, full of knowledge of trees and plants, paints the Misbourne Valley with the authority of real familiarity. Could this be one of his earliest snow scenes, a subject which became such a regular hit for him in later years? The empty areas between trees and bushes might suggest this, but in fact the branches are not bare enough for winter, but are plump with sap and leaves, so perhaps the pallor of the terrain is reflected summer sun.

A.L.