Martha was the elder sister of Annie Mutrie (1826-1893), both sisters studying under George Wallis at the Manchester School of Design and specialising in flower subjects. Their work was greatly admired by Ruskin, who wrote of Annie's paintings in his Academy Notes of 1855: 'these flower paintings are remarkable for very lovely, pure, and yet unobtrusive colour - perfectly tender, and yet luscious ... and a richness of petal texture that seems absolutely scented. The arrangement is always graceful ... (but) I wish this very accomplished artist would paint some banks of flowers in wild country, just as they grow, as she appears slightly in danger of falling into too artificial methods of grouping.' The following year it was Martha's turn to be praised. Her work, Ruskin wrote, was 'nearly as good as simple flower-painting can be', and he urged her to attempt 'a roadside bank of violets.'
In this outstanding example Martha might well be taking Ruskin's advice to heart and painting 'a bank of flowers in wild country, just as they grow.'
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The Isabel Goldsmith Collection: Selected Pre-Raphaelite and Symbolist Art
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The painting is inverygood condition. It is unlined and evenly tensioned on its original stretcher. The bond between paint, preparation and canvas is good and the painting is structurally stable. The paint surface is in goodcondition with littleretouching: someisolated spotsabovethe horizon,towardsthe left hand vertical edge; in the sky, in top left corner; otherwise to framing abrasions at the extreme edge of the painting. Any touches present have been made in pure pigment within the varnish layer and may be clearly seen under UV illumination.
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Lot 52Sale 21004
Wild flowers at the corner of a cornfieldMARTHA DARLEY MUTRIE (1824-1885)Estimate: GBP 30,000 - 50,000
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