Sodden Track

As I cycled into Evesham this morning along this well-puddled track, I started thinking about the Victorian artist Benjamin Williams Leader.

Yes, I know, there are a lot more obvious things I could have thought about - why am I splashing along this path instead of using the road? Shall I treat myself to a muffin when I get to Evesham? What am I going to have for lunch? What should we do to promote world peace? Nevertheless I settled on this relatively unknown Worcester-born artist.

Leader specialised in paintings with water in them, getting his inspiration from the sea, lakes, rivers, streams or just rutted tracks. In later life he made a fine living selling pictures of rustic dwellings and rustic people in water-sodden landscapes, developing this niche and exploiting it for all it was worth. It appears that nouveau-riche Victorian businessmen liked nothing more than a depiction of under-nourished agricultural labourers and bedraggled country wenches wallowing in mud to surmount their mantlepieces. No doubt there are still folks who would pay for that sort of entertainment.