Ladies in a Garden

By 1870 Monticelli had fully evolved a personal style which delighted in creating a surface texture so rough that it almost overwhelmed the view of the subject matter. The picture is typical of the garden scenes that Monticelli produced in the 1860s and which became particularly popular with British collectors. One such local collector was James Smith (1831-1923) of Blundellsands, a wealthy wine merchant who, as well as leaving the Walker his Monticellis, also bequeathed to the gallery a notable group of sculptures by Rodin.