He visited many of TurnerÂ’s much loved sites and visited Barnard Castle in 1893, a town that had proved a favourite with Turner. In this work, Steer chose a viewpoint that provided an entirely original composition and depicted the tall mill buildings which were powered by the river and served the townÂ’s thriving carpet industry. Turner chose to omit these signs of the town's industrial heritage from his watercolour 'Barnard Castle', now in the collection at Yale Center for British Art. Many of these 18th century buildings have since been demolished and this painting provides an important record of the townÂ’s mill architecture.

Provenance

Christie's, 1942; Agnews; by descent to Dr Tessa Murdoch.