The Enchanted Castle at Dusk

c. 1868

Samuel Palmer

Associated Names
Samuel Palmer

Artist, British, 1805 - 1881

The image shows a ruined castle on a rocky hill, with a high horizon blending into an orange sky. Birds are flying against the sky. The brushstrokes are detailed, showing texture on the stone structures and foliage. The color palette includes warm earth tones like browns and oranges. The trees and close vegetation are well-defined, while distant hills are blurred for depth.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    watercolor and gouache with touches of gold on wove paper

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Donald Stone

  • Dimensions

    overall: 34.9 x 26.7 cm (13 3/4 x 10 1/2 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2022.40.12

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Lister 1988, no. 649

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Esmond Morse [1885 - 1970] (sale, Christie's London, 5 March 1974, no. 179). (Sotheby's London, 19 November 1981, no. 67). Private collection, UK. (Agnew's, London, stock no. CM2905); Donald Stone, New York [1942 - 2020]; bequest to NGA, 2022.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2006

  • The Artist's Vision: Romantic Traditions in Great Britain, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2006 - 2007

2023

  • Drawing in Britain, 1700 - 1900: New Additions to the Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2023.

Bibliography

1985

  • Lister, Raymond. The Paintings of Samuel Palmer. Cambridge University Press, 1985: no. 66.

1988

  • Lister, Raymond. Catalogue Raisonne of the Works of Samuel Palmer. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1988: no. 649 (illustrated)

Inscriptions

lower left in image: traces of inscription, now cut off; by later hand, right verso in graphite: French/22 x 18

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