Samuel Palmer

Samuel Palmer painted the English countryside as a vision: glowing moons, heavy harvest fields, sheep folds and village churches, all in a mood closer to poetry than to topography.

Born in London and largely self-taught, he met William Blake as a young man and was deeply moved by him. From 1826 to 1835 he lived in the Kent village of Shoreham, where he and his friends, who called themselves the Ancients, produced his most original work. Coming from Evening Church (1830), now at Tate, belongs to this time. Later he painted more conventional watercolours and made fine etchings such as The Lonely Tower. His work is held at the British Museum, Tate and the Ashmolean.

Look for the rich, almost mystical golden light and the sense of a landscape blessed with plenty.