Front of the New Mills (1813): Art, History and Details

Front of the New Mills (1813) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is John Crome (British, 1768–1821).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Crome's work epitomizes the essence of British landscape art at the beginning of the 19th century, the moment of its greatest flowering. Rooted in an almost mystical commmunion with nature, the artist's purpose was to express the true naturalism of landscape, a realism of light, air, and weather not seen before. He became interested in etching because he understood its potential for spontaneity, yet he feared his etchings would not be admired because they were, by conventional standards, unfinished and sketchy. In fact, it is precisely the freedom of line, lack of rigidity, and open silvery quality of light that makes them so special and individual. Rather than using prints to just copy his paintings, Crome approached etching as a creative medium with which to capture the special beauty of his native Norwich countryside. It is in early impressions like this one, printed by Crome in small numbers, and now extremely rare, that the delicacy of his technique can be appreciated.

Object facts

• Title: Front of the New Mills
• Date: 1813
• Creator attribution: John Crome (British, 1768–1821)
• Culture: England, 19th century
• Type: Print
• Technique: etching
• Dimensions: Sheet: 38.5 x 55.7 cm (15 3/16 x 21 15/16 in.); Platemark: 22.5 x 30.2 cm (8 7/8 x 11 7/8 in.)
• Collection: PR - Etching
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1996.227

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.