A gentle British pastoral scene depicting three women tending to their flock. The artist, Charles Leslie (1839-1886) has selected a time of the day when the sun is low and the shadows are long. It’s a painting to lose yourself into.

Charles Leslie was a member of the Williams family of painters who were widely known during the 19th-century. His grandfather, Edward Williams (1781–1855), was an accomplished landscape painter and all six of his sons became artists.

Perhaps to differentiate himself, Charles opted to focus on the Scottish and Welsh moorlands where he produced a great deal of his work. His landscapes often portray stark mountains and still waters. It’s easy to imagine that this could be a Scottish scene but its original title has been lost over time. A label on the reverse seems to mention the Spring but a location is difficult to decipher.

Leslie exhibited at the Royal Academy, the British Institution and the Royal Society of British Artists. He’s currently represented in several museums including the National Library of Wales, the Royal Holloway Museum at the University of London and the Victoria Museum and Gallery in Liverpool.

The painting is signed in the lower right, inscribed on the reverse and housed within a good later foliate frame with pierced corners.

Medium: Oil on canvas
Overall size: 48½” x 32” / 123cm x 81cm
Year of creation: c. 1870
Provenance: England
Condition: Areas of craquelure but the paint layer is stable. The canvas has been restored at least once and one area is a little undulant. Frame with some light wear and a few abrasions.
Artist’s auction highlight: £5,400 achieved for ‘Moonlit Highland Landscape with Crags and Peaks surrounding a Loch’ at auction in 2000.