Lot 371: Henrietta Creswell (Br., 19th c.), Merry May

watercolor on paper, signed and dated at lower right "H. Cresswell 1891," still life with bird's nest and flower strewn mossy bank, matted and framed under glass.
SS 13 x 19.75 in.; DOA 21 x 27.5 in.

Ms. Henrietta Creswell exhibited flower paintings at the Royal Academy, Society of British Artists, New Water-Colour Society, Grosvenor Gallery, and elsewhere. The daughter of a doctor in Winchmore Hill, 10 miles outside of London, Cresswell wrote a book about the village and the coming of the railway to Winchmore Hill. The hill she remembered was as bright and fresh as toddling childhood; a blend of clarity and colour, like a mix of paint and transparency. Even the air seemed brightly painted. It was like a land of long ago. What is now north London was then all rickyards and honeysuckle, wild hops, wild roses, thickset hedges [95/96] and forget-me-nots.
Clark Art Gallery (founded 1923), Raleigh, North Carolina