This, I suspect, was made while Butler was under the influence of Ruskin’s Elements of Drawing—say about 1870. He threw off that influence later.
16. Four water-colour notes in one frame.
One is inscribed “S.B.” and another “Kingston, near Lewes.” I suppose that they are all on the South Downs, and they are all early—say 1870.
JAMES FERGUSON
17. Crayon drawing: Butler playing Handel, 1870 (?).
Reproduced in the Memoir (I. ix.). Ferguson was a fellow art-student with Butler.
SAMUEL BUTLER
18. Oil Painting: The Valle di Sambucco, above Fusio.
The sambucco or sambuco is the elder tree. Butler, writing of this valley (Alps and Sanctuaries, ch. xxvi.; new ed. ch. xxv.), says: “Here, even in summer, the evening air will be crisp, and the dew will form as soon as the sun goes off; but the mountains at one end of it will keep the last rays of the sun. It is then the valley is at its best, especially if the goats and cattle are coming together to be milked.”
19. Water-colour: The Rocca Borromeo, Angera, Lago Maggiore. Entrance to the Castle. 1871.