International studio (23.1904)

A Painter of Hardy s Wessex



MR. WHITEHEAD’S ENCAMPMENT AT UPPER LYTCHETT

The work of Frederick
WHITEHEAD, A PAINTER OF
THOMAS HARDY’S “WESSEX.”
BY CLIVE HOLLAND.
Just as there is a “Constable” country and a
“ Shakespeare ” country, there has, in due course
of time, by reason of the genius of Mr. Thomas
Hardy, come to be a “ Hardy ” country : which,
though known by the wider description of “ Wessex,”
is, to all intents and purposes, the old-world county
of Dorset. Compara-
tively seldom, indeed, has
the novelist gone outside
the confines of the county
for the main action of
his numerous novels and
tales. And the painter
of Wessex is therefore, in
excelsis, that of Dorset.
In Mr. F. Whitehead
this “fayre land,” which
foregathers within its
confines scenery of such
endless variety, may truth-
fully be said to have
found a singularly sym-
pathetic interpreter. No
artist knows this land of
romance, ancient customs,
and exquisite natural
beauties better; few so “the frome, near moreton’

well. Certainly none has
pictured the latter with
such breadth, sympathy,
and success. Compara-
tively speaking — we do
not of course deny the
existence of isolated
canvases of Wessex sub-
jects of outstanding merit
—this land of emerald
mead and silvery stream,
swart moorland, commons
ablaze with golden gorse,
heaths ruddy-purple with
heather, rounded uplands,
and quiet pastoral nooks,
has, in a sense, remained a
terra incognita to all save
a few artists and anti-
quarians, and stray holiday-
makers. But it has for
the last ten years or so
been painted by Mr. 'Whitehead in varying Tnoods
of its beauty so vividly, truthfully, and sym-
pathetically, that he may without challenge lay
claim to be the painter of Wessex. Certain it is
that a Wessex man could “ live ” with the pictures
which have come from his easel, and rest satisfied
with the various interpretations he has given to
familiar and loved scenes.
In Godlingstone Heath (p. 113), for example, we
have a representation of one of the most beautiful
stretches of hill and moorland in the county. It was

BY F. WHITEHEAD