This traditional style oil painting captures the beautiful English countryside, presenting to us a view down a quintessential country lane and to the distance beyond. Here, we can envisage ourselves walking along the road on a quiet and cold morning as the sunshine begins to burst through the clouded sky to bathe the surrounding countryside in its light. A fleeting moment of timelessness is captured, a moment that many of us can relate to through personal experience and memory.

Peter Newcombe was born in Blisworth, Northamptonshire in 1943. He studied illustration and etching at Northampton School of Art, where he won a travelling scholarship. His work first came to public attention in 1968 with a set of twelve large drawings illustrating ‘The Shepherds Calendar’ by John Clare, which were featured on BBC television. In 1970 he was awarded a major art grant from the Elizabeth T. Greenshield Foundation in Canada. At this time he began exhibiting widely in London including at the Royal Academy, the Royal Society of British Artists, and the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour. In 1979 he designed a set of flower stamps for the Post Office.

The subject matter of Peter Newcombe’s paintings is gathered almost entirely from the area of Northamptonshire in which he lived. His paintings are intense studies of landscape and flora in all seasons, and he had a particular interest in old buildings and wild flowers.