Sarah A.E. Shrubsole Evening Landscape, Epsom, Surrey

Sarah A.E. Shrubsole (1823–1914): Turneresque Watercolours

This painting was produced by Sarah Alicia Eliza Shrubsole (1823–1914), who married into the wealthy banking family of Shrubsole & Co (c.1792–1894). Sarah and her husband John (1822–1874) lived at Surbiton Hall mansion house in Kingston upon Thames. She outlived her husband by some forty years, during which time it is said she was frequently visited at Surbiton Hall by King George V, Queen Mary and the Pre-Raphaelite painters. One of her paintings she exhibited was accepted by the Duchess of Albany.

This painting is one of a collection of works that we have for sale painted by Shrubsole between 1899 and 1910. Produced during her twilight years, these pictures have particular poignancy and emotional resonance, meditating as they do on themes of immortality, the passing of time and the beauty of nature.

Through an impressionistic painting style she transforms landscape subjects into visions of spiritual transcendence. Many of the views depicted are sublime (including Romantic subjects painted by J.M.W. Turner): mountain passes, vertiginous precipices and vast lakes, dominated by the immensity of the natural elements. Although many of the views are abstracted through mist and low light, most are landscapes observed by the artist from life—either locally in Surrey or as memories of her travels.

Sarah Shrubsole had a rich appreciation of literature, accompanying all the paintings with an associated poetic extract. We also have for sale separately a scrap album compiled by her, which evidences her involvement in local theatre and fundraising, through which she received royal invitations from the Prince and Princess of Wales, and collected signatures from the likes of comic actors George Grossmith (1847–1912) and John Parry (1810–1879).