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Lot Essay
Edward Seago was very conscious of both the artistic and natural history that East Anglia had to offer offer him. He believed that he was working in the tradition of the great landscape painters of the Norwich School such as John Sell Cotman and John Crome, as well as John Constable and the highly influential Sir Alfred Munnings. He also felt a deep sense of place and history within the surrounding countryside.
In the spontaneous and impressionistic handling of the paint in Barges on the Orwell one gets a real sense that Seago is looking to capture a fleeting moment in the timeless and historic landscape of East Anglia, while simultaneously harking back to a medieval age. This interest in the untamed and barbaric history of the landscape can be seen when Seago writes 'It's a wild coast, and they say that parts of it have altered little since the days when East Anglia was ravaged by the Danes. Again and again they came, bringing terror to the Saxons, who dreaded the approach of the "Black War Keels" from across the sea. With the Raven banner of Inguer and Ubba flying at the mastheads, they forced their way up the estuaries and into the valley of the Waveney; compelling the Saxons to take refuge in the churches, where, one is told, they burned them alive as a sacrifice to Thor and Wodin.' (see E. Seago, Peace and War, London, 1944, pp.21)
In the spontaneous and impressionistic handling of the paint in Barges on the Orwell one gets a real sense that Seago is looking to capture a fleeting moment in the timeless and historic landscape of East Anglia, while simultaneously harking back to a medieval age. This interest in the untamed and barbaric history of the landscape can be seen when Seago writes 'It's a wild coast, and they say that parts of it have altered little since the days when East Anglia was ravaged by the Danes. Again and again they came, bringing terror to the Saxons, who dreaded the approach of the "Black War Keels" from across the sea. With the Raven banner of Inguer and Ubba flying at the mastheads, they forced their way up the estuaries and into the valley of the Waveney; compelling the Saxons to take refuge in the churches, where, one is told, they burned them alive as a sacrifice to Thor and Wodin.' (see E. Seago, Peace and War, London, 1944, pp.21)