(1825 - 1899)

The leading cottage painter of his day Birket Foster was born in North Shields. He moved with his family to London in 1830 where he was apprenticed to the wood engraver Peter Landells. He worked exclusively as an engraver and black and white illustrator until about 1850 after which he taught himself to paint in watercolour. He exhibited some 400 works with the OWS. His house at Witley Surrey was partly decorated by the Pre-Raphaelites and became a centre for artists of many different types. He travelled and painted widely on the continent though he is best known for his English Cottage scenes with children.

Birket Foster produced a number of watercolours on this theme, based on a drawing he made in 1858 for ‘Birket Foster’s Pictures of English Landscape’. Some were exhibited under different titles. The Dipping Place is the definitive watercolour of this series.