Lot Essay
After a brief spell in the centre of Belfast, the Middletons settled in Ardglass in Co. Down, an area of great natural beauty and historic interest. The landscapes Middleton produced at this time were vibrant and intense, the location inspiring the artist to comment that 'place is everything' (interview with Michael Longley, 7 April 1967).
The distinctive composition of the present work, with the slender tree trunks slicing vertically across the picture plane is a construction used by Middleton in a similar work Marble Strand - Donegal (E. Mallie, One Hundred Years of Irish Art, Ireland, 2000, illustrated on dust jacket).
Ballygrainey is a small village to the north of the Ards Peninsula between Bangor and Donaghadee.
The distinctive composition of the present work, with the slender tree trunks slicing vertically across the picture plane is a construction used by Middleton in a similar work Marble Strand - Donegal (E. Mallie, One Hundred Years of Irish Art, Ireland, 2000, illustrated on dust jacket).
Ballygrainey is a small village to the north of the Ards Peninsula between Bangor and Donaghadee.