Lonely Tower
Maker
Samuel Palmer
(British, 1805-1881)
Collections
ClassificationsDRAWINGS
Date1880
Mediumopaque watercolor over traces of graphite on board
Dimensionsimage: 6 5/8 × 9 1/4 in. (16.8 × 23.5 cm.)
sheet: 6 15/16 × 9 5/8 in. (17.6 × 24.4 cm.)
SignedSignature S. Palmer
Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Gilbert Davis Collection
Label TextThis is the final watercolor in a series of eight Palmer made to illustrate lines from John Milton’s poems L’Allegro and Il Penseroso. As a model for the drawing, he used the tower at Leith Hill in Surrey, which was near where Palmer’s eldest son had died. The impact of his son’s death is evident: the waning moon depicted here would have been visible at the hour his son died. The night sky shows a constellation that could have been observed on the night of his son’s death (2022). Status
Not on viewObject number59.55.984
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