Maiden with a laurel wreath

The present watercolour is a particularly enchanting example of Ryland's style in which he combined the poeticism of the Pre-Raphaelites with the sculptural dynamism of the Neo-classicists. He exhibited frequently at the Royal Academy, the New Gallery and the Royal Institute of Painters in Water-Colour, which firmly established his position at the forefront of the group of Neo-classical painters, working in watercolour.