Victorian Cottages

By Andrew Clayton-Payne

Book Overview

Country life was idealized by the Victorians into a rural idyll. 19th-century artists sought to perpetuate this image and their work found its greatest expression in images of cottages and cottage life. Drawing on the watercolours of Helen Allingham, Myles Birket Foster and Charles Wilson, and the writings of Flora Thompson and Thomas Hardy, this book describes the cottages themselves, how they were built and organized internally, and the farming and domestic traditions that determined the cottagers' lives. Harvesting, cider-making and wash day are a few of the activities described, as well as some of the more unusual customs. By contrasting the reality with the art, the book finds that these paintings convey more truth than one might expect at first glance.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0297835637
• ISBN13: 9780297835639
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: Trafalgar Square Publishing
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Very sweet book

This is a very sweet collection of pictures. I like it for garden ideas for my cottage style home.

Victorian Cottages by Andrew Clayton-Payne

This is a wonderful book for the lover of the old English cottage painters of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is filled with full colored pictures on every page of the paintings and describes life in these times. A great addition to anyone's library who is interested in these times and the painter's who so aptly captured a way of life long gone. Paintings by Allingham, Strachan, Stannard, Foster and others are included.