This is the ideal Victorian watercolour. Take a good look at the skill demonstrated in that nest and the blue of the eggs. The image of spring, a robin’s nest, and cherry blossom. You imagine the walls of minor bedrooms at Balmoral covered in similar scenes and the work is of top quality. There are 2 or 3 Victorian painters whose subject matter and style were similar, but William Cruickshank, Scottish/Canadian 1848 -1922) stands out as the leader for this sort of scene and the CR monogram might, at a stretch, be made to fit. It would be an accomplished piece for a 16 year old but perhaps his talent was born not made. If it is his, this was painted before his passion for the memento mori, usually a beautifully detailed dead bird or two dropped next to a painted nest, got the better of him.
£165
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