The Bowder Stone, Borrowdale

This watercolour possibly dates from 1786, the year Joseph Wright wrote to a friend expressing his intention of visiting the Lake District. The Bowder Stone is a huge boulder, fallen from neighbouring crags, which lies at the entrance to Borrowdale.

Using a dark wash, Wright has created a sense of mass and scale, illustrating his interest in light and shade. Unusually for a landscape painting from this time, the scene is devoid of any human activity, apart from the signs of cultivation in the lower left corner of the painting.