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Solomon's Temple, Buxton

Hagedorn

1940

watercolor

From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum

Early Modern Tower

Dominant colour

Solomon's Temple, Buxton is a 1940 watercolor by Hagedorn, depicting Tower, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.

Who painted this?: Hagedorn
When & what style?: 1940
Where can I see it?: Victoria and Albert Museum

About this work

This painting shows a tower on a hill, set against a cloudy sky. The tower is round and has a few windows and a doorway. It's painted in watercolors, with soft colors that blend together. The tower is the main focus of the painting, and it's shown in a simple but detailed way. The artist has used a range of colors to capture the texture and shape of the tower, from the rough stone walls to the smooth curves of the windows. If you're interested in learning more about this style of painting, you might want to check out the work of other artists who use watercolors to create detailed, realistic scenes.

The story of this work

Overview

Hagedorn’s 1940 watercolour depicts Solomon’s Temple, a Victorian tower situated on a rural ridge near Buxton, executed in a topographical style. The work was produced as part of the Recording Britain scheme, a wartime initiative funded by the Pilgrim Trust and directed by Sir Kenneth Clark to document sites of national significance threatened by conflict or modernization. Artists such as John Piper and Rowland Hilder were commissioned to capture English landscapes, architecture, and rural life, with this painting focusing on a local landmark amid broader anxieties about cultural and…

Read the full account in the museum source.

About the artist

Artist

Hagedorn

Karl Hagedorn (11 September 1889 – 1969), who signed himself Hagedorn, was a painter and illustrator. He was born in Berlin in 1889 but settled in Manchester, England, in 1905.

See the richer artist page