On Sunday we popped up to Grasmere for a visit to Allan Bank. Allan Bank is the former home of Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley (and the Wordsworth family, of course). We were keen to visit for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Grasmere Glee were performing Christmas carols round the Christmas tree and, secondly, we wanted to see the exhibition of Eleanor Rawnsley's watercolours.
Eleanor Rawnsley was the second wife of Hardwicke Rawnsley, and had travelled with him and his first wife, Edith, extensively in Europe. Edith Rawnsley and Eleanor were close friends before Edith's death, and Eleanor's subsequent marriage to Rawnsley.
I've been really looking forward to seeing this exhibition, and I wasn't disappointed. The paintings represent a snapshot of the Rawnsley's private lives and holidays in Europe, and it's so special to see them displayed in the house where they lived. The paintings are delicate, but the colours are so strong, and they succeed in conveying a strong sense of place, and the pleasure the artist found in travel and exploration.
Displayed for the first time, this collection of watercolours and small black and white photographs gave us a glimpse into the the private lives of the Rawnsleys. Through the paintings we were afforded a glimpse of genteel tourism in the mountain resorts of the Alps and the Dolomites, while the shadow of the First World War loomed over Europe.
It was so lovely to browse the exhibition to the tuneful caroling of Grasmere Glee.
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| Spello, Italy |
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| Mount Rigi, Oberland, Switzerland |
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| Lucerne, Switzerland |
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| Lugano, Italy |
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| Oberamergau, Germany (L), Alps (C), Orla, Italy (R) |
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| Eleanor (Nellie) on holiday |
