The Bat Begins with Giddy Wing - Barley Field Over the Hedge, 1885 (w/c &...

North has taken as the title of his watercolour a poem from a remarkable book by Thomas Forster (his Circle of the Seasons and Perpetual Key to the Calendar and Almanack, London, 1828, p 409) describing the 'history, antiquities and natural phenomena of each day in the year', in this case August 16th. The Bat begins with giddy wing His circuit round the shed and tree; And clouds of dancing gnats to sing A Summer night's serenity. North's wanting 'to make his drawings tingle and shimmer with light led him to paint multitudinous details melting together, with spots and particles of pure colour. His method can be compared with pointillisme; certainly, he was groping for method of expression which the French Impressionists developed more fully’ (Martin Hardie, Watercolour Painting in Britain, Vol. III The Victorian Period, 1968, p.138).