Wayfarers

Wayfarers is the only painting in the gallery inscribed with two dates both in the hand of its artist, John Linnell. The first date, 1849, denotes the year it was first painted. The second, 1866, marks the date it was cleaned and repainted by Linnell for a new owner. Linnell often reworked his canvases in this way.

1849 was also the year that Linnell moved to Redhill, Surrey. When his train was delayed at Redhill Junction, he found a wooded knoll that seemed the perfect place to build an artist’s cottage. Wayfarers may have been one of the first landscapes he painted after moving to his new countryside abode.

Linnell was influenced by the Christian philosopher William Paley (1743-1805), author of Natural Theology (1802). Paley believed that the wondrous complexity of natural phenomena was evidence for the existence of a divine creator. This mystical painting is divided in two by its horizon line. Below, an everyday conversation takes place across a darkening woodland path. Above is the pale, infinite sky.

Purchased by Thomas Holloway, 1883.