Thames Ditton - with a Sail

Sir Francis Seymour Haden 16 Sep 1818 - 1 Jun 1910

Summary

Through etching as a medium the artist has been able to employ a sketchy style of line-work to represent this landscape; this becomes particularly suggestive in the rendering of the trees and bushes within the scene where the line-work suggests the different textures and natural, irregular forms. Stretching out from the left hand side into the centre of the composition is a river that is seen looping around a bank of land also curving out from the left hand side. Sitting on the river, in the centre of the composition, is a sailing boat with two men in it. The white sail of the boat rises vertically through the composition and corresponds with the two truncated tree trunks in the right half of the composition. In the background fields lined with fences and dense groups of trees can be seen; these become spread more thinly as they move towards the left hand side as there is a group of buildings on the left hand side. Whilst on the right hand side the sky is filled by the tree trunk in the foreground, in the left, above the houses, the sky is clear apart from a few clouds of smoke rising from them.