Artwork Information

  • Title:

    Cambridge Coming from Chesterton

  • Artist:

    Crotch, Dr. William

  • Artist Bio:

    British, 1775–1847

  • Date:

    1824

  • Medium:

    Watercolor on paper

  • Dimensions:

    5 1/2 x 8 7/8 inches

  • Credit Line:

    Wichita Art Museum, Museum purchase, Virginia and George Ablah Fund

  • Object Number:

    1986.8

  • Display:

    Not Currently on Display


About the Artwork

William Crotch

British, 1775–1847

Cambridge Coming from Chesterton, 1824

Watercolor on paper

Wichita Art Museum, Museum purchase, Virginia and George Ablah Fund

1986.8

A musical prodigy who started teaching at Oxford University when he was only 22, Crotch was also an accomplished and well-known watercolor painter. Cambridge Coming from Chesterton is typical of Crotch’s work, featuring a picturesque panorama of the English university town. The spires of Cambridge’s King’s College Chapel are visible in the left corner of the painting, while cows graze in the foreground along the River Cam. In works like Cambridge Coming from Chesterton, Crotch creates an idyllic image of English country life, pairing a romantic desire for nature with nostalgia for a pre-industrial past.