Kempsey Church on the River Severn

The present work depicts the church of St. Mary the Virgin in Kempsey, south of Worcester. There are at least two other paintings by the artist depicting this same view of the River Severn at the crossing point of the Pixham Ferry, looking toward the south. Leader exhibited other river scenes at the Royal Academy in 1883, however he did not choose to exhibit the present picture. In 1889 he returned to the same scene again for another large work entitled Sabrina's Stream (Sabrina being the Roman name given to the River Severn) which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in that year. Leader would return to the subject at least one other time, in a smaller version painted in 1896. Ruth Wood confirmed the authorship of this work when it was sold in 2000.