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'Nottingham from the East', 1695
by Jan Seberechts
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At first sight this is a blue and green painting. A very blue sky, very green fields,
and a blue river running through. Look more closely into the landscape and landmark
Nottingham buildings appear in view. On top of the hill is Nottingham Castle, closer
is St. Mary’s church in the original Anglo-Saxon part of the town (and allegedly
the church where Robin Hood married Maid Marian in defiance of the Sheriff of Nottingham).
On the right hand side stands Colwick Hall, shown here as being within the city
boundaries, but in actual fact it stands several miles outside of the city. The
owner of the hall at the time had commissioned the painting and wanted his grand
home to feature alongside the other prominent buildings.
Behind the castle in the distance Wollaton Hall can be seen and across the river
the church at Wilford is visible. All of these buildings are still standing, but
have gone through many changes over the years, as has the city.
The River Trent weaves it’s way through the painting, and the bridge over
the river, Trent Bridge shows it’s importance for good communication. A smaller
river closer to the city, the river Leen was used for transporting provisions closer
to the castle, and was diverted in later years to become the Nottingham Canal a
short distance away. The area between the River Trent and the castle is now an intense
housing development called the Meadows, and here it is clear why the name was chosen
as it was originally just meadows.
There are no visible signs of life at first, apart from the birds in the sky, but
a keen eye can detect cattle, sheep, two horses, people harvesting in the fields,
people on the barge on the River Trent, people crossing the bridge and people walking
on the river bank, quite a busy scene in fact.
Although the buildings in the painting still feature in the landscape of Nottingham
today, the rest of the scene is almost unrecognisable, the city has developed and
expanded and the population has exploded.
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© Nottingham City Museums and Galleries. Photo © The National Gallery,
London.
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