The scene represents a stretch of low meadows at Hellesdon, a suburb northwest of Norwich, through which the river Yare meanders. At one turn it runs beneath a modest cliff on which cottages are nestled in trees. The same character of objects occupy the middle distance and the blue horizon closes the view. Rain clouds overhang the landscape and the tones are subdued. In effect, the painting and brushwork clearly reveal the intensity of purpose expressed within Crome's narrowness of range.(1) 1. Goldberg, John Crome the Elder, 1978, page 182
Dawson Turner, purchased from the artist for 8 pounds; his sale Christies, London, May 14, 1852, Lot number 42; bought by Rudder, 1852 C.H. Gurney, 1870 J. Baker; his sale Christies, March 15, 1873 Lord Suffield, purchased in 1874; by descent to The Honorable Doris Harbord; her sale Gunton Park, September 1980; bought by Private collector, Norfolk.
London, Royal Academy, Old Master's Exhibition, 1870, number 68 Norwich, Castle Museum, John Crome, 1968, number 11 London, Tate Gallery, John Crome, 1968, number 11
Dawson Turner, Outlines of Lithography, Illustrated Catalogue of Pictures Acquired in the Previous Decades, 1840, pages 13-14, reproduced W. F. Dickes, The Norwich School of Painting, London 1905, page 49 C. H. Collins Baker, Crome, London 1921, page 140 S. C. Kaines Smith, Crome, London 1923, page 84 Derek and Timothy Clifford, John Crome, London 1968, pages 132 and 195, reproduced plate 75b Norman L. Goldberg, John Crome the Elder, Phaidon 1978, page 182 Related Drawing: Back River, Norwich, illustrated Goldberg figure 171. Grazing cattle, present in the drawing, are omitted from the painting. Engraved: View at Hellesdon, see Dawson Turner, 1840, page 13, reproduced.
