William Taylor Longmire (1841-1914) Windermere, Lake District Watercolour, c1903
William Taylor Longmire (1841-1914) Windermere, Lake District, 1903
Signed Edwardian British Lake District Watercolour Panoramic View Across Windermere Towards the Langdale Pikes
Highlights
• Original Edwardian watercolour on paper
• By Cumbrian artist William Taylor Longmire (1841-1914)
• Signed W T Longmire
• Titled "WINDERMERE" by the artist
• Dated 1903
• Panoramic elevated view across Windermere in the English Lake District
• Prominent mountain formation identified with the Langdale Pikes or wider Langdale group
• Probable elevated viewpoint from the eastern side of Windermere, possibly Orrest Head or nearby ground
• Sailing boats upon the lake
• Wooded islands, shoreline and distant Lakeland fells
• Richly detailed trees, shrubs and vegetation in the foreground
• Mature late-career work by the artist
• Windermere was a recurring subject throughout Longmire's career
• Longmire's work is represented in the National Trust and Government Art Collection
• GES BUR Studios, Southport label verso
• Famous Lord Hill Museum provenance association recorded verso
• Image size 22 cm high x 33 cm wide
• Framed size 37.5 cm high x 48 cm wide x 2 cm deep
• Subsequently curated and presented by Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD®
• Supplied with a Certificate of Sale & Dealer Attribution
Introduction
A finely detailed signed and dated Edwardian watercolour by William Taylor Longmire (1841-1914) depicting an extensive panoramic view across Windermere in the English Lake District towards the mountainous landscape of the Langdale Fells.
Dated 1903, the work belongs to the mature period of Longmire's career and represents one of the principal Lakeland subjects to which this Cumbrian artist repeatedly returned over several decades.
Viewed from a substantial elevated position, Windermere extends across the composition towards the surrounding fells. Several sailing boats animate the calm waters, while wooded islands, promontories and irregular shorelines create successive layers through the landscape.
The foreground is particularly richly developed. Trees, shrubs, grasses and flowering vegetation provide a detailed natural framework before the eye is led across the lake towards the increasingly atmospheric mountains beyond.
Longmire combines warmer greens, ochres, browns and russet tones in the foreground with softer blue-grey and muted violet tones across the distant fells. This transition from stronger foreground colour towards increasingly subdued distant tones creates a convincing impression of atmospheric recession and considerable depth.
Of particular importance is the artist's own inscription "WINDERMERE", which securely identifies the subject rather than relying upon a later traditional attribution.
Catalogue Details
Artist: William Taylor Longmire (1841-1914)
Title: Windermere
Date: 1903
Medium: Watercolour on paper
Genre: Edwardian British Landscape / Lake District Landscape
Signature: Signed W T Longmire lower right
Inscription: Titled "WINDERMERE" lower right
Date Inscription: Dated 1903 lower right
Subject: Windermere, Lake District, Cumbria
Mountain Group: Langdale Pikes / wider Langdale group, identified on topographical comparison
Probable Viewpoint: Elevated eastern side of Windermere, possibly Orrest Head or nearby ground
Image Dimensions: 22 cm high x 33 cm wide
Framed Dimensions: 37.5 cm high x 48 cm wide x 2 cm deep
Frame: Later gilt frame with cream mount and gilt inner line
Glazing: Presented beneath protective glass
Reverse: GES BUR Studios, Southport trade label and provenance documentation
Catalogue Note
The composition demonstrates Longmire's accomplished understanding of panoramic Lake District landscape.
An elevated foreground of trees and vegetation establishes the viewer's position high above the lake. From here the landscape opens dramatically, with Windermere occupying the middle distance before the surrounding mountains rise across the horizon.
Several sailing craft punctuate the water, their sails providing small points of light and human activity within the extensive natural landscape.
Wooded islands and projections of shoreline divide the lake and contribute to the strong sense of recession.
Longmire's handling changes according to distance. The immediate vegetation is relatively detailed, with individual trees, shrubs and passages of foliage carefully articulated. Across the middle distance, forms become broader as woodland, shoreline and water merge into the wider landscape.
The distant fells are treated more softly in restrained blue-grey and violet tones, reducing detail as the mountains recede into atmospheric haze.
This progression from detailed foreground vegetation towards increasingly softened distant landscape is particularly effective in creating the deep panoramic perspective of the composition.
Windermere
Windermere was a recurring subject within Longmire's career.
The Government Art Collection holds his signed watercolour Windermere, dated 1867 and inscribed "W T Longmire / 1867".
The National Trust at Townend, Troutbeck, holds Longmire's View of Windermere and Langdale Pikes from Low Wood, with a Flock of Seventeen Herdwick Sheep, together with several other works by the artist.
These documented examples establish Longmire's sustained artistic engagement with Windermere and its surrounding landscape.
The present painting, dated 1903, demonstrates his return to this characteristic Lakeland subject more than three decades after his documented 1867 Windermere.
The Langdale Pikes & Probable Viewpoint
The prominent mountain formation beyond Windermere is identified with the Langdale Pikes or wider Langdale group, one of the defining features of the mountainous skyline west and north-west of the lake.
The Langdale Pikes include Harrison Stickle, Pike of Stickle and Loft Crag. Individual summits overlap considerably when viewed from the Windermere direction, and Longmire may also have adjusted their forms and proportions for compositional purposes.
The geographical arrangement within the painting nevertheless provides an important clue to the viewpoint.
The lake is viewed from substantial elevation, with the Langdale mountain group beyond its northern reaches. This is consistent with a position on the eastern side of Windermere looking west to north-west.
The celebrated prospect from Orrest Head above Windermere, or elevated ground nearby, provides a particularly close geographical comparison.
Early twentieth-century photographic records of the head of Windermere and Langdale Pikes from Orrest Head provide especially relevant comparative evidence because they are approximately contemporary with Longmire's watercolour.
Orrest Head or its immediate vicinity is therefore considered a plausible viewpoint, although the precise position from which Longmire painted has not been independently documented.
The Artist
William Taylor Longmire (1841-1914) was a Cumbrian landscape and rural painter closely associated with the English Lake District.
Born at Troutbeck in 1841, Longmire grew up within the rural Lakeland environment that subsequently became the principal subject of his artistic career.
The 1861 census records the nineteen-year-old Longmire at High Scroggs, Staveley, working as a farm servant.
By the 1860s he had developed into an accomplished painter. The National Trust preserves his substantial signed and dated watercolour Townend, Troutbeck, Cumbria of 1866 and his Scroggs Farm, Staveley of 1870.
Longmire became particularly associated with Lake District subjects. Recorded works depict Windermere, Troutbeck, Staveley, Ambleside, Grasmere, Rydal, Derwentwater, Thirlmere, Ennerdale, Coniston and the Langdale Pikes.
His paintings frequently combine extensive mountain and lake scenery with carefully described foreground vegetation, rural buildings and elements of traditional Lakeland life.
Longmire therefore painted the Lake District as an artist deeply rooted within the Cumbrian landscape rather than as an occasional visitor.
By the end of his life he was resident at Ambleside and formally recorded as an artist.
He died in 1914.
A Mature Work - 1903
The present watercolour was completed when Longmire was approximately sixty-one or sixty-two years old and belongs to the mature period of his career.
Specialist records document several Longmire watercolours from around this period, including In the Lakes, Ennerdale of 1903, Grasmere of 1903 and The Langdale Pikes of 1904.
Of particular research interest is a specialist dealer archive recording a signed Longmire watercolour entitled Windermere, also dated 1903.
The correspondence of artist, title, medium and year makes this a potentially significant comparative record. Insufficient identifying information is presently available, however, to establish that the archived work and the present painting are the same physical artwork.
It is therefore treated as a comparative research record rather than incorporated into the provenance.
Institutional Collections
William Taylor Longmire is represented in British public and heritage collections.
The National Trust preserves a significant group of his paintings at Townend, Troutbeck, including Townend, Troutbeck, Cumbria of 1866, Scroggs Farm, Staveley of 1870 and View of Windermere and Langdale Pikes from Low Wood, with a Flock of Seventeen Herdwick Sheep.
The Government Art Collection holds his signed and dated Windermere of 1867.
These institutional works provide important comparative evidence for Longmire's signature, technique, subject matter and longstanding engagement with Windermere and the wider Lake District.
Provenance
GES BUR Studios, 46 Claremont Road, Southport, Fine Art Dealers, Picture Framers & Photographic Restorers; printed trade label retained verso.
Privately Loaned with the Famous Lord Hill Museum, Shropshire; provenance association recorded in documentation retained verso.
Subsequently curated and presented by Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD®.
A descriptive sheet retained verso identifies the work as Windermere by W. T. Longmire and records its associations with GES BUR Studios, Famous Lord Hill Museum and Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD®.
The GES BUR Studios trade label establishes a physical association with the Southport fine art and framing business. It does not alone establish whether the firm owned, sold, framed, restored or otherwise handled the watercolour.
The Famous Lord Hill Museum association is retained according to the surviving provenance documentation and is not interpreted beyond the presently available evidence.
Comparative Works
Townend, Troutbeck, Cumbria, 1866, watercolour on paper, National Trust.
Windermere, 1867, watercolour on paper, Government Art Collection.
Scroggs Farm, Staveley, 1870, National Trust.
View of Windermere and Langdale Pikes from Low Wood, with a Flock of Seventeen Herdwick Sheep, circa 1860-1880, National Trust.
Windermere, 1903, signed watercolour recorded in a specialist dealer archive; potentially relevant as a comparative record but not presently established as the same physical work.
The Langdale Pikes, 1904, signed watercolour recorded in a specialist dealer archive.
Dimensions
Watercolour / visible image:
22 cm high x 33 cm wide
Framed:
37.5 cm high x 48 cm wide x 2 cm deep
All dimensions are approximate.
Condition Report
Fair antique condition consistent with age.
The watercolour remains visually attractive and the panoramic composition is clearly legible.
Scattered foxing and spotting are present, particularly across the lighter sky area, together with age-related toning and discolouration of the paper.
A small tear, puncture or area of paper disturbance is visible towards the lower portion of the composition close to the lake and shoreline.
The precise nature and extent of this area have not been examined outside the frame.
The work is presented beneath protective glass within a later cream mount with gilt inner line and gilt frame.
The frame displays general wear consistent with age and previous handling, including rubbing, scuffs, small chips and localised losses.
The watercolour has not been removed from its frame during cataloguing. The concealed margins and reverse of the paper have therefore not been examined.
Please examine all photographs carefully as they form an integral part of the condition report.
Shipping
Worldwide shipping is available.
The painting will be professionally packaged and fully insured for transit.
Certificate of Sale & Dealer Attribution
The artwork will be supplied with a Certificate of Sale & Dealer Attribution issued by Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD®, recording the artwork’s catalogue details, attribution, provenance as stated, and details of the sale. This document accompanies the work as part of its ongoing ownership and provenance record.
Attribution and Research
The historical observations, provenance research, attribution analysis and contextual commentary presented within this catalogue entry represent the professional opinion of Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD®. They are offered in good faith as informed scholarly assessments based upon the available evidence, comparative research, published reference material and our experience within the international fine art market.
These observations should be understood as professional opinions rather than definitive statements of fact or guarantees of authorship, attribution, date, origin, provenance or historical interpretation. As with all historic works of art, future documentary discoveries, technical examination, conservation analysis or advances in academic research may refine, expand or revise current interpretations.
The suggested identification of the prominent mountain formation as the Langdale Pikes or wider Langdale group, together with Orrest Head or nearby elevated ground on the eastern side of Windermere as a possible viewpoint, is a topographical interpretation based upon the visible landscape, geographical context and comparative views. The precise individual summits and exact position from which Longmire painted have not been independently documented and are therefore presented as considered possibilities rather than established facts.
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