The Abbey Gates Looking to Greenfield House c. 1840s

David Cox created "The Abbey Gates Looking to Greenfield House" using watercolor. Cox, born in 1783, came of age during a time of immense social change in England, shadowed by the industrial revolution. Consider how class distinctions shaped experiences of the English countryside. While enclosure laws displaced many rural workers, rendering them propertyless, landscape paintings like this one often sentimentalized rural life, obscuring the harsh realities of poverty and inequality. Cox’s choice to depict this scene through the soft, diffuse medium of watercolor, rather than the more academically valued oil paint, speaks to a changing art world. How might the figures on the path be framed within this context? Are they simply enjoying a leisurely stroll, or are they representative of the displaced and the marginalized seeking solace in nature? Think about what the painting both conceals and reveals about the historical moment in which it was created. The way we look at landscape is always mediated by identity and history.