Sunset over a Forest

MacCallum's reputation rests mainly upon his woodland subjects, and he endeavoured to exemplify in his paintings the compatibility of breadth and detail, as shown in the present work. He is particularly noted for his fidelity to nature in his representation of trees and his meticulous attention to intricate branching and foliage detail. His close observation shows the influence of the Pre-Raphaelites, notably the early landscapes of William Holman Hunt and Ford Madox Brown, and it was from the late 1850s that he began to devote himself seriously to landscape.

MacCallum was born in Nottingham and many of his woodland views were taken from the local area where he grew up, for example, In Sherwood Forest - Winter Evening after Rain (1881; Victoria and Albert Museum, London).