3-028-358 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"The Smithy," by the late T. Creswick, R.A., 1870. Engraving of a painting '...by Mr. Creswick, the deservedly-popular landscape-painter...[It] is one of the artist's latest works; and, though not wholly to be exempted from the charges of growing mannerism and crudity which we have had to bring against such works, yet retains much of the charm of the fine productions of his prime. The graceful and thoroughly English taste of Mr Creswick was shown no less in his style than in his choice of subjects. But the themes themselves are almost invariably recommended by their homeliness and the delightfully unaffected associations of country life which they recall. Take, for instance, the constituents of this picture - a...subject repeatedly treated by the artist. The evening sky, with its crescent moon; the tenderly-indicated distance with its village church, veiled by the mists of nightfall; the winding road by the river's marge ; the herd returning homewards; the geese taking the pond; the tall elms which mark the site of the village smithy; the contrast of the ruddy glow of the forge against the pallid evening light; and the horses being shod for the morrow's labour - how charmingly all combine to produce a true impression of English rural life!'. From "Illustrated London News", 1870.