Reflections at Finchingfield, England

 

John Taylor Arms

  1887 - 1953 (biography)

1938  

etching 

7 1/16 x 17" platemark 

pencil signed, lower right 

proof (from the second state) 

pencil dated 1938 after the signature; annotated II in lower left; titled by Arms in lower left margin: "Reflections at Finchingfield (Réflexions à Finchingfield) 

Fletcher 311; English Series #2; Arms 316; LOC 281 

ivory laid 

ii/ii 

artist 

24630 

$2,500.00 

John Taylor Arms clearly agreed with the many artists and tourists of then (including Lucien Pisarro) and now who claimed Finchingfield, Essex, England as the most picturesque rural village in England. Here, he has rendered it with as much care as a portraitist. Shown is the shallow ascent of the village toward the crown of St. John the Baptist Church, a Norman structure dating to 1170; at the village’s feet, a mirror-flat duck pond reflecting the Georgian and medieval houses lining the town green. In this second image from the English Series, Arms captures the most minute details in both the village and its reflection, down to the weathered wooden boards of the shed in the lower left. This image garnered Arms five awards between 1939 and 1941.

Today, Finchingfield looks much the same save for improved roads and new road markers. It remains a tourist destination and is a stop along the Dunwich Dynamo, a 112-mile nocturnal bike race that takes place on the full moon of July.