The Road to Wittenham Clumps near Oxford

Location

Country: Other
City: other locations abroad

A lone figure walks along a path towards the gently undulating pastures of the Oxfordshire countryside that are bathed in warm rays of sunlight. Haystacks like small pyramids, dot the landscape in the distance. Alexander Mann’s painting depicts a view of Wittenham Clumps, a set of small grassy hills within the Thames Valley. Long renowned as a picturesque site, it has inspired painters and poets of different generations: the British painter Paul Nash (1889–1946) frequently painted in this area later in the twentieth century.

Alexander Mann was born in Glasgow; the son of a business man. Aged just ten he became a pupil of Robert Greenlees. He then studied at the Glasgow School of Art and Académie Julian, Paris, before entering the atelier of Carolus-Duran in 1881. He exhibited in Glasgow, London and Paris (1879-93). Mann remained in Paris for 15 years, frequently visiting Scotland, and spent periods in Venice and Morocco. He concentrated on landscapes but also painted genre scenes during the 1880s. He became the first Glasgow artist to receive an Honourable Mention at the Paris Salon (1884). He settled in Hagbourne, Berkshire, before moving to Streatham in 1896. Mann was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 1893. He died in London, aged 55.

Places

England, Oxfordshire, Wittenham Clumps, Chilterns

Subjects

walking, topography, landscape C20th, sunlight, stone/rock, man, field, road, haystack

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil painting

Artist

Alexander Mann (1853 - 1908)

Title

The Road to Wittenham Clumps near Oxford

Date

1901

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 54.00 cm, width: 86.50 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from the Fine Art Society, April 1989

Inscription

br: Alexr. Mann / 1901

Provenance

With the Fine Art Society; from whom purchased in April 1989

GAC number

16693