The Baa Lamb: View on a Tributary of the River Duddon

After John Ruskin’s (1819 - 1900) hurtful criticism of his work in 1858, Windus stopped painting subject pictures and produced small landscapes. The original title of this one was 'The Baa Lamb: View on a Tributary of the River Duddon', but it is also known as 'The Stray Lamb'. It was painted in north Lancashire near the home of Windus’s friend and fellow artist Daniel Alexander Williamson (1823 - 1903). It shows a similarly meticulous approach to rocks and foliage though with a more restrained use of colour. As in Williamson’s work, the animal is so delicately painted it is almost indistinguishable from its naturalistic background.