The Butter Cross and Public Buildings, Witney
1942
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
1942
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
The Butter Cross and Public Buildings, Witney is a 1942 watercolor by Atkins, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This sketch shows a small town square with a covered wooden shelter in the center. The shelter has a steep, tiled roof and thick wooden beams supporting it. Around it are stone buildings with tall windows and arched doorways. A few people and a horse-drawn cart are scattered in the background, and the ground looks wet or muddy. The title says this is the Butter Cross in Witney, a spot where people once gathered. The artist signed it in 1942, using watercolor to keep the lines light and sketchy. Check out the Victoria and Albert Museum to see more works like this.
This watercolour by Atkins, dated 1942 and titled *The Butter Cross and Public Buildings, Witney*, depicts the butter cross in Witney’s market square, its structure supported by substantial columns beneath an ornately-gabled roof. Part of the 'Recording Britain' collection, the work was created during the Second World War as part of a government initiative to employ artists in documenting Britain’s architectural and rural heritage. The scheme, led by Sir Kenneth Clark and funded by the Pilgrim Trust, aimed to preserve a visual record of places and traditions perceived as threatened by wartime…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Anna Atkins turned their hand to quiet watercolours of Cotswold buildings in the 1940s.
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