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Lot Essay
Painted in 1884, Under the blossom that hangs on the bough was executed soon after Edwin Harris moved to Cornwall in 1883. In the late nineteenth century Newlyn became a popular destination for artists from the Birmingham region, most notably Walter Langley who settled there in 1882. Harris' anonymous, nineteenth-century biographer somewhat controversially credited Harris rather than Langley with being the first to settle in the area stating, 'Mr Langley is generally regarded as the 'artistic father' of the small Cornish fishing village, but Mr Edwin Harris was before him, and is undoubtedly one of the first pioneers amongst the Newlynites' (Edgbastonia, XIX, July 1899, no. 219, p. 124).
Born at Ladywood, Birmingham in 1855, Harris entered Birmingham School of Art in 1869. Having completed his studies and a short period of teaching he enrolled at the Royal Academy of Antwerp in 1880. There he was greatly influenced by Charles Verlat, the Academy's Professor of Painting at that time, who advocated a realist approach and working directly from nature, en plein air. Keen to apply the skills he had learned in Antwerp, Harris travelled to Brittany in 1881 and 1882, painting at the artists' colonies in Dinan and Pont-Aven. The painters who flocked to paint in these and other Breton villages were attracted partly by the inexpensive cost of living but primarily by the opportunity to work outdoors recording the picturesque landscape and the local folk in their simple way of life.
The pretty Cornish village of Newlyn, with its quaint fisherfolk and extraordinary quality of light, similarly attracted a community of plein air painters. Having first visited in 1881, Harris settled nearby in Paul in 1883. Under the blossom that hangs on the bough was painted the following year. It shows a young girl lost in thought in a meadow, the scene illuminated by soft spring sunshine. The girl is dressed demurely in a white dress, her head and eyes lowered almost bashfully and her complexion slightly flushed as she contemplates the sprig of blossom in her left hand. Harris appears to hint at a sexual awakening on this spring day, the notion that universal truths and some moral purpose could (and should) be gleaned from nature being intrinsic to the realist doctrine in which he was well versed. Under the blossom that hangs on the bough was exhibited at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, of which Harris was at that time an Associate member, in the autumn of 1884. On viewing the exhibition the critic for the Art Journal (loc. cit.) singled the painting out as particularly 'admirable'.
Born at Ladywood, Birmingham in 1855, Harris entered Birmingham School of Art in 1869. Having completed his studies and a short period of teaching he enrolled at the Royal Academy of Antwerp in 1880. There he was greatly influenced by Charles Verlat, the Academy's Professor of Painting at that time, who advocated a realist approach and working directly from nature, en plein air. Keen to apply the skills he had learned in Antwerp, Harris travelled to Brittany in 1881 and 1882, painting at the artists' colonies in Dinan and Pont-Aven. The painters who flocked to paint in these and other Breton villages were attracted partly by the inexpensive cost of living but primarily by the opportunity to work outdoors recording the picturesque landscape and the local folk in their simple way of life.
The pretty Cornish village of Newlyn, with its quaint fisherfolk and extraordinary quality of light, similarly attracted a community of plein air painters. Having first visited in 1881, Harris settled nearby in Paul in 1883. Under the blossom that hangs on the bough was painted the following year. It shows a young girl lost in thought in a meadow, the scene illuminated by soft spring sunshine. The girl is dressed demurely in a white dress, her head and eyes lowered almost bashfully and her complexion slightly flushed as she contemplates the sprig of blossom in her left hand. Harris appears to hint at a sexual awakening on this spring day, the notion that universal truths and some moral purpose could (and should) be gleaned from nature being intrinsic to the realist doctrine in which he was well versed. Under the blossom that hangs on the bough was exhibited at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, of which Harris was at that time an Associate member, in the autumn of 1884. On viewing the exhibition the critic for the Art Journal (loc. cit.) singled the painting out as particularly 'admirable'.