On a dappled lane in Autumn, a boy proudly displays his woodland treasure to three passing companions – a portrayal of youthful camaraderie and innocence with which established Elizabeth Adela Forbes her reputation.

Born in Ottawa in 1859, Forbes would become one of Britain’s most perceptive painters of childhood at the turn of the 20th century, and a pioneering spirit of the Newlyn School. She was sent by her family to England for her education, living with an uncle on Cheyne Walk near Dante Gabriel Rossetti, whom she admired greatly though she never met him. She enrolled at the South Kensington School of Art, developing the academic draughtsmanship that would underpin her later innovations. However, it was her subsequent experience at the Art Students League in New York under William Merritt Chase that introduced her to plein air painting. Chase’s admiration for Jean-François Millet and Jules Bastien-Lepage proved prophetic, as these influences would significantly shape Forbes’ development and link her work to the wider European naturalist movement.

In 1882 she arrived at Pont-Aven in Brittany to experience first-hand these artistic developments. It was also there that she first heard of Stanhope Forbes who was working nearby in Quimperlé. They did not meet until 1885 in Newlyn, and married in 1889 – an artistic partnership that led to their co- founding of the Newlyn Art School, fostering a new generation of artists that would form a distinct trajectory in early 20th century British painting.

The Impressionist and naturalist structure of the present painting is characteristic of the principles Elizabeth and Stanhope advanced in the Newlyn School. Loose, confident brushwork animates the composition, while the palette of muted ochres and verdant undertones shows her mastery of atmospheric effects. The children are lively with character and intrigue – a subtle but transforming presence to a composition given predominantly to the canopy of light-filled woods. Her sensitive and honest depictions of childhood progressed from the sentimentalised versions that characterised much Victorian painting on the theme.

In the Lane is a wonderful example by the artist, testament to the significant role Forbes played in the development of British Impressionism before her career was cut short by her untimely death from cancer in 1912.