Pale blue Irises, Florence

Christopher Wood in his book Painted Gardens, London, 1988 describes Elgood as 'the greatest master of the garden picture'. A professional watercolourist he was also an extremely knowledgeable gardener himself, holding strong personal views about gardens and their design. He illustrated Gertrude Jekyll's books and shared many of her ideas about design and colour. He first visited Italy in 1881 and returned almost every year, spending at least four or five months painting and sketching.