Tennyson Down, Freshwater

“… (Take it and come) to the Isle of Wight
Where, far from noise and smoke of town,
I watch the twilight falling brown
All round a careless-ordered garden
Close to the ridge of a noble down.”

~Alfred, Lord Tennyson, To The Rev. F. D. Maurice

Here is my painting of Freshwater Bay from a picture I took during my visit to go see the house of Victorian photographer Julia Margaret Cameron at Dimbola Lodge which is just beyond those dark trees. Tennyson, who also lived on the island, asked her to create some character portraits to illustrate for his Idylls of the King. A print of one of these (The Princess) is hanging on my wall which I got at the Dimbola Lodge museum.

---