Arthur Melville, R.W.S (1858-1904)

Having trained at the Academie Julien in Paris and as a member of a colony of international artists in Barbizon during 1878, Arthur Melville painted this atmospheric watercolour in the year of his departure for the Middle East, a journey which would last from 1880 until 1882. The dark palette of this work foreshadows the change in his style which occurred around 1885, after a visit to the Orkney islands with James Guthrie, and which was perhaps influenced by his study of the works of James McNeill Whistler.