Cherryburn: Traveller Returns
"Traveller and Dog in Rain Storm"
The National Trust have recently acquired a Bewick watercolour. It is on show currently at Cherryburn. Entitled "Traveller and Dog in Rain Storm" the small painting was exhibited in Newcastle in 1903. At that time its owner J.W.Ford lent a number of watercolours to the Bewick 150th Anniversary Exhibition at the Academy of Arts. The exhibition label is still on the reverse of the small iron frame.
The "Traveller" crossed the Atlantic at some point in the last century. The National Trust has succeeded in bringing him home to the North East. Many of Bewick's watercolours were working drawings for engravings. There are several examples of vignettes showing men and dogs. The closest in appearance is shown below.
The Bewick Society
The aim of the Bewick Society is to promote an interest in the life and work of Thomas Bewick and related subjects, especially with regard to wood-engraving. The Society publishes a journal called the Cherryburn Times, normally twice a year. This provides a forum for the activities of the Society and keeps members informed about the latest research into the life and work of Bewick and his apprentices. Members publish articles about their own special interests where relevant to the Society. The Society also arranges visits to special collections, some of which are not normally open to the general public. It encourages the development of facilities for conservation and display of Bewick related materials, including wood-engraving as practised by those following in Bewick’s footsteps.
Cherryburn Cottage
Membership of the Society also gives free admission to the museum at Cherryburn, where Thomas Bewick was born, now in the care of the National Trust.
More information can be found on this page at the National Trust website.