Leeds from Woodhouse Ridge

Leeds Museums and Galleries have recently acquired an early Atkinson Grimshaw watercolour with the help of the Leeds Art Fund.

The view is painted from Batty’s Wood, Woodhouse Ridge, Leeds, looking towards St Chad’s church, Far Headingley. The spot is just a short walk from Grimshaw’s house at The Villas, Cliff Road. The girl with the black hair may be Grimshaw’s wife, Theodosia. The painting shows a mixture of techniques, with in the foreground a minute delicacy in the painting of the grass and flowers, and very broad sweeps of the brush in the factory buildings right of centre. The sky is very Turneresque.