Prunus, Prunus serotina

This is a watercolor from Fruits from the Gardens of Summer Hill. The collection, painted from 1818 to 1822, reveals how Sarah Matilda Parry’s style became more ever sophisticated over the years. Usually, she noted the particular variety of the specimens she illustrated, but in this 1822 work she also adds further realism by shading the cherries and giving special attention to contrasting shades of light and the deep red of the cherry fruit. She had an eye for the differences in shape and dimension of similar species of fruit, which improved noticeably over her career. As with her inscriptions on other illustrations, she writes on this work, “the produce of these three trees my dear Father never saw, being among the last he planted in the autumn of 1820.”

An endearing detail of Parry’s collection of paintings is a note she wrote on a tipped fly-leaf in the front: "Bought by me from a 2nd hand bookshop in Tunbridge Wells." This secondhand book became the outlet for the recording of her father's orchard and, most importantly, her growing artistic skill.