Manchester from Kersal Moor
by WYLD, William, Watercolour, 319 x 491 mm
Queen Victoria was becoming an admirer of Wyld’s work and commissioned him to paint a number of paintings for her, which remain in the royal collection to this day.
Wyld’s view of Manchester is overtly romantic. The smoking chimneys serve only to accentuate the golden light of the setting sun, and the rustics and goats in the foreground are reminiscent of the views of Italy produced in great numbers by the English watercolourists of the previous half-century.